


Innovation Strategies

by youresomoneybaby



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, delinquent penelope, good girl josie, it's in chapter 6 if that's all u wanted, u get what i mean
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:47:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 34,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23951797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youresomoneybaby/pseuds/youresomoneybaby
Summary: Penelope has been stealing and selling cars for the past three years whilst doing her best to avoid the law after her parents disappeared and were presumed dead. She meets Josie, a straight A college student at a coffee shop on campus. Josie plays hard to get initially but Penelope loves a challenge.But will things become strained before their premature relationship can even develop when Penelope finds out Josie's father is the chief of police?
Relationships: Penelope Park & Josie Saltzman, Penelope Park/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 100
Kudos: 322





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This fic came to me in a dream and was originally written out with my OCs until I decided to adapt it to the Legacies universe. Also I started to hit a writers block on my other fic so I figured this would be a good way for me to run straight through it. Also because it's missing posie hours all day erryday. Let me know what you think?

Penelope tapped the end of her cigarette against the ash tray, the embers falling off into the small dish. She brought the bud up to her lips and inhaled deeply. The smoke filling her lungs brought her relief as she stared at her computer screen. If only her mom could see her now. Sitting at her desk early in the morning, cigarette between her lips and a cup of coffee in hand. She skimmed over the block of text next to the blue print on her computer. Another inhale. Exhale. Smoke clouded around her as she dropped the cigarette out of her mouth and sipped her coffee before placing it back. She placed her hands on the keyboard and began typing up a message, occasionally glancing from her computer screen to the mirror above her desk. _Location, time, armory, transportation._ Just the simple things needed for your average heist.

At barely nineteen years old, Penelope had gotten good at her craft. But that wasn’t necessarily a good thing either. _‘Once you’re in the business, don’t think about getting out. It’s hell and chances are, you won’t be able to.’_ Marcel’s words echoed in her ears everyday for the past three years. She could still remember the day she came home to an empty house. Doors wide open, house trashed and no trace of her parents in sight. That night she met Marcel. Turns out, Penelope’s father and him had a… business venture with another partner years back. Things didn’t end well and while the business partner couldn’t find Marcel, he found her father.

Marcel offered her a chance and a life that didn’t consist of bouncing around group homes. Instead, she spent her time learning and out on ride alongs. With a heavy sigh, she inputed a code to lock the confidential files, hiding away information meant for other eyes. The early mornings were one of many things that were instilled in her. Despite all the late nights working, it was important to get an early start to the day when you have people depending on you. She looked around her bedroom, directly above the large L-shaped desk she currently sat at was a long Broadview mirror that gave her a clear view of the entire room. Immediately behind the desk was her queen sized bed, sheets still ruffled from a restless night of sleep. The bedroom was fairly large with a connecting bathroom and small balcony that overlooked the pool in the backyard. This house was her first big purchase after months of saving.

Penelope wanted to give her friends the home and environment she wished she still had, which is why she opted for a house over an apartment. Knock knock. The tap at the door brought Penelope out of her thoughts and straight to the double doors. Hope stood on the other side, arms crossed and already dressed for the day. She had met Hope when she first went to live with Marcel and they became quick friends. Hope came from money but it was never something she liked to talk or think about. Her parents were adamant to give her the best life possible but sometimes when you shower your child with life’s luxuries, it can get too much. Hope didn’t want to be known just for her parents money, she wanted to make a name for herself. Which is why she joined Penelope in stealing cars. Call it a mix of, teenage rebellion and just pure curiosity.

“Breakfast’s ready. We have to be at the campus in an hour so quit your sulking and eat. I don’t really want to deal with hangry Penelope today.” Penelope chuckled before pushing past Hope to head downstairs. “Yes, _mother._ ”

MG stood at the stove, spatula in hand as he flipped the slices of bacon with practiced ease. He glanced over his shoulder as the two girls made their way into the kitchen and flashed his signature grin. “What’ll it be, boss? We’ve got the works or I can get some pancakes started, there’s toast heating up right now too.” Penelope clapped a hand on his shoulder on her way to the fridge while Hope slid into the seat at the island next to Jed, who was scarfing down his breakfast.

“As much as I _love_ your pancakes, MG, I’m going to have to pass. I will have a bit of everything else though.” Once her plate was loaded up with eggs, bacon and toast, she sat down next to Hope and sipped the cup of juice already waiting for her. Her eyes scanned over the three people in the room with her. With every fiber of her being, she could truly say that she would die for them. Hope had been her best friend and the first to join her on this ‘business venture’, they liked to say they worked in innovative strategies. Several months into the job Penelope met MG.

MG had grown up in an extremely religious household, his father was a pastor and mother the stereotypical devout Christian woman. Much like Hope, things were all laid out for young Milton Greasley. He was to finish his schooling at the private school his parents spent way too much money on, go to a top notch university, become a lawyer, marry a nice Christian girl and have two kids. That all went out the window the second his father walked in on MG in bed with a girl named Sasha. Sasha was the compete opposite of everything MG’s parents wanted for him and was more than enough for them to kick their only son out of the house.

That’s how Penelope found MG sleeping on a park bench one night. She had been drowning her sorrows in a bottle of whiskey when she accidentally sat on him. They shared stories all night until Penelope offered MG a chance. Then, later on MG introduced Jed into the mix. Jed had fallen into the wrong crowd and owed people money. Initially it was all just to make the extra cash and move on. But after a few jobs they discovered that he had a knack for it and was a natural, eventually he joined on permanently and now serves primarily as the brawns of the operation.

“What’s on the agenda today?” Jed asked after swallowing a mouthful of toast.

“We’re going back to school, team.” That garnered raised eyebrows from all her friends and she chuckled. “Scouting out Salvatore University today. A buyer wants a specific type of car and I got a tip that a professor there drives the same one. We track the times and days that he gets to campus, all his personal info and figure out a good time to hit. We’ll leave in thirty.”

They quickly polished off their breakfast and went back to their respective rooms to get dressed for the cool March air. The four of them had gotten their routine down so perfectly that they usually ran into each other in the hallways of the house or arrive at the garage door at the same time. Penelope slid into the drivers seat of her Jeep Wrangler, Hope in the passenger and the boys in the back. The drive to the university lasted twenty minutes, all filled with MG and Jed’s obnoxious singing while Hope and Penelope just laughed along.

She pulled into a parking lot outside of the university’s coffee shop and turned around to face her friends. “You all know the drill, right? Meet back in an hour at this coffee shop.” They exchanged nods and filed out of the car. The air was cool and crisp, immediately making the blood rush to Penelope’s cheeks the second she stepped out of the car. She followed Jed to the coffee shop and watched out of the corner of her eye to see Hope and MG break off in the opposite direction. Just because they were used to waking up early didn’t mean they wouldn’t need the usual pick-me-up.

“Get me an americano, I’m going to take a whiz.” Penelope rolled her eyes playfully. Even after years of living with Jed, she was still put off by his poor choice of words sometimes. Penelope stepped into the line in front of the cash register and began mindlessly scrolling through her social media feed until she caught a glimpse of the girl that stood behind her. Just above the cashier was a large mirror that reflected off the rest of the room. Behind her was quite possibly the most beautiful girl she’d ever seen (and she’d seen a lot of them). The girl was a little taller than her, her brown hair pulled back into a neat ponytail. She wore a long sleeved red top paired with a skirt that stopped right above her knees where she also had on black stockings. Penelope let her eyes travel up and down the girl’s body, as inconspicuously as she could but with no shame.

She quickly snapped out of her trance when it was her turn to order. She cleared her throat, piecing together an idea to get the girl’s name. “Two americanos, please. And whatever the pretty girl behind me is getting.” She gestured to the girl behind her before handing over a twenty dollar bill. “Keep the change.” As she turned to walk out of line, the two made eye contact and Penelope gave her the signature smirk she always gave girls. Luckily, she managed to catch sight of a blush dusting the girls cheeks as she walked away.

From across the room she saw Jed shaking his head and Penelope rolled her eyes again. Penelope did her best to act uninterested until she saw the girl slowly walk up to her and clear her throat. She glanced up, a smile tugging at her lips as she straightened up.

“That was very nice of you to pay for my coffee, thank you.” The brunette smiled at her and Penelope felt an irritatingly harsh blush crawl up the back of her neck.

“It was my pleasure. Anything for a beautiful girl such as yourself.” God. The words coming out of her mouth were cheesy beyond belief but she couldn’t help herself. Thankfully if the girl thought any different, she didn’t show it. Instead she just laughed at Penelope’s poor attempt at flirting.

“Do you always buy strangers coffee? Or is this just a special occasion?” The girl leaned against the wall, arms crossed and gaze challenging. Oh. Penelope liked that look.

“Only the pretty ones. Do you always accept free coffee from strangers?” Penelope questioned with a raised brow. The brunette just smiled at this and shook her head.

“Only the pretty ones.”

Penelope laughed and mirrored her stance, arms crossed. “How about dinner?” Normally due to her line of work, Penelope never bothered to have relationships. Things were always easier for all of them to just have one night stands or just friends with benefits. Less roots meant it’d be easier if things were to ever go south and they’d have to leave the city.

The brunette narrowed her eyes at Penelope and shrugged. “I’m a bit swamped at the moment. It’s midterm season so I don’t have a lot of time to spare.” Penelope opened her mouth to respond but the girl held up her hand to cut of her off. “But I am a college student. Who am I to say no to a free meal?”

“Brutal honesty. I like that.” Penelope laughed. The girl matched her smile and shook her head as if to throw away a thought. She began rummaging through the bag she had on her shoulder, eyebrows furrowing when she came up empty handed.

“I was going to pay you back for the coffee but it seems like I lost my wallet. I’ll get you back next time.” At that moment, the barista at the counter called out their drinks. They walked over together, hands brushing when they reached for the drinks. Penelope smiled to herself when she saw the shy smile line her full lips. Throughout their interaction, Penelope realized she hadn’t even gotten the girl’s name. She turned to face her, ready to say something snarky to ask for her name when the watch on the girl’s wrist went off. The brunette’s brows scrunched together and she sighed. “And there goes my break. I have to go back to studying now, I’ll see you around stranger. Thank you for the coffee.”

She turned to leave but Penelope shot her hand out quickly to grab her wrist. “Wait! I didn’t get your name.” The girl quirked a brow at her. She took a long sip from her coffee and pulled her wrist free of Penelope’s grasp.

“That’s because I didn’t give it.” The brunette winked at her before turning to walk out of the coffee house leaving Penelope standing there, jaw slack and a dumbfounded look on her face. She let out an exasperated laugh, shaking her head. Interesting. The girl was a tease but Penelope loved a challenge.

“Wow. Did I just see Penelope Park get bested by a girl? I never thought I’d see the day.” Jed laughed from over her shoulder. Penelope whirled around and glared at him. She shoved his drink into his chest and made her way out of the coffee shop. “Shut it. I’ve got way more game than you. Besides, we’re having dinner. Even though… she didn’t give me her name, but I’m determined now.”

“Josette Saltzman.”

Penelope almost choked on her coffee and turned to look up at Jed with wide eyes. There in his hands was a small blue cardholder, the ID card facing towards her. He had a cocky grin on his face as he waved the wallet in her face. She quickly snatched the wallet out of his hands and brought the ID closer to her face. It was the girl, smiling at the camera with the same shy smile she flashed Penelope just minutes earlier. Her eyes dropped down to the girl’s name and her eyebrows rose. _Josette Saltzman._ Did she go by Josette? Or something shorter? Jo? Joey? Etty?

“Wait a minute. You stole her wallet?!” Penelope glared up at her friend and slapped his arm. “What’s wrong with you? Can’t keep your hands to yourself for one second?”

  
Jed threw a hand up in surrender while the other went to rub at his arm. “Woah, chill Pen! Damn. I knew she wasn’t going to give you her name so I did you a favor. Besides, now you have another reason to see her.” Jed stuck his tongue out at the raven haired girl before walking away quickly out of her reach so she couldn’t hit him again. Penelope just shook her head. Jed was good at being a pickpocket, a little too good actually. She was so distracted that she didn’t even see Jed swipe the wallet from Josette.

She gulped down half her coffee and jogged to catch up with Jed, the wallet tucked safely in the inside pocket of her coat.

“You’re a dumb ass, you know that right?”

“But you appreciate me.” Jed knocked his shoulder against hers and smirked.

Penelope laughed, mirroring his smirk. “I do. Now let’s get to work. This car isn’t going to steal itself.”


	2. Chapter 2

The job was a success. While Penelope and Jed were off ‘dicking around’, as Hope so kindly put it, her and MG mapped out the professor’s schedule for the day. It also helped that the professor seemed forgetful enough to lock their car fairly often. They agreed on stealing the car that same day. The quicker they fulfilled a client’s orders, the faster they moved on to new jobs. They waited until the man had stopped at a restaurant on his way home from the university.

Hope was in the driver’s seat in their ‘follow car’ which was just just one of many that they cycled out on jobs in order to avoid suspicion. She pulled up one street over so Penelope and MG could slip out. The two walked casually over to the restaurant where they could see the college professor standing inside, his back to the street. They held casual conversation as Penelope opened the driver side door and slipped inside. MG pulled out a small hand drill and a screwdriver, much to Penelope’s chagrin.

“Really? He’s going to dock us for the cost of fixing the key hole, you know that right?”

MG just rolled his eyes and reached over to start drilling into the keyhole. “It’s not like we have the time to actually hotwire or jumpstart it, okay? We have enough parts at home where I can fix it.” Penelope glanced up at the restaurant through the windows, the man was already ordering his food and which meant they had to get out of there quick. She quickly jammed the screwdriver into the keyhole, taking it out and turning it multiple times until the engine caught and roared to life. Tension that she always held during jobs left her shoulders and she quietly peeled away from the curb and onto the street.

“I can’t believe they even bother making cars that aren’t keyless now,” MG grumbled more to himself than his friend. He quietly packed away his tools before pulling out his phone to fire off a quick text to Hope and Jed who were likely not too far behind.

“It makes our job much easier now so I’m not complaining.” Green eyes flickered over to the clock on the dashboard. _Ten minutes since._ The professor has definitely noticed his car was gone and called the police already. Penelope swerved into the nearest alley and MG jumped out of the car, already assuming his role. He yanked off the license plates and replaced them with the burner ones he had stashed away in his bag. It was a quick procedure, a minute tops before they were back on the road. They headed straight towards the buyer for the exchange. Forty thousand dollars for a car that was over ten years old, but collectors always paid big bucks and money was money to Penelope.

“How does take out sound for dinner? I was thinking Thai.” Hope said to them as Penelope and MG slid into the backseat.

“Amazing. I’m starving.” Jed groaned as he slumped into his seat.

“It’ll sound better if it’s your treat.” MG teased, but Hope just nodded in agreement. “Only fair. We’re going to _my_ favorite place then if that’s the case.”

Thus began MG attempted to compromise or coerce Hope, whichever was easier. Penelope just shook her head and settled back into her seat. The day was long as per usual but she felt more exhausted than normal. The blue wallet still sat snug in her coat pocket, a reminder that she had to find a way to see the girl again and return it, ideally without having to mention why Penelope had the wallet to begin with.

++

The rest of the night was spent relaxing. The four friends gorged themselves on a well deserved meal all while watching the newest movie releases. It was well past midnight when one by one they began to retire to their rooms. Penelope was pouring herself a glass of whiskey when she felt someone sidle up next to her.

“Care for a night cap?” Hope wordlessly pulled out a glass from the cupboard and set it on the table.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Penelope smirked at her friend who just rolled her eyes at the cheesy pun she always made.

“I heard you had fun on campus today.” Was all Hope said. She was leaning with her back against the counter, arms close to her chest until she reached for her glass. They clinked the glasses together and took a long swig, savoring the burn of the alcohol.

“Oh please. Like I didn’t notice you flirting with that curly headed waiter a few days ago. You never smile that wide when _I_ make you milkshakes.” Penelope feigned hurt with a hand up to her chest as if it physically hurt.

“That’s because I’m not trying to get into your pants,” Hope scoffed and took another sip. “I’m just saying. The option of college is always on the table, Pen.”

Not this again. It was one drunken night years ago that Penelope confided in Hope. She talked on and on about how she sometimes wished her life was more conventional. Having an actual high school graduation instead of just getting her GED, attending college and meeting someone nice that she would later marry and have kids with. It was all so cheesy and while Penelope would never admit it, she was a sucker for cliches. She grew up watching all the teenage romcoms and love stories but as she grew up she had to face the harsh realities that her life would never be like that. It was all just fiction.

Even if she did enroll in school, her life would never be complete. In the background of her pipe dream were her parents, alive and well with her. But they weren’t. So there was no point in entertaining something that’s been doomed since she was sixteen. She emptied her glass and poured another.

“I don’t think any college would be proud to have a car thief naming them as their alma mater.”

“It’s just a thought. Don’t think that—“

“That’s exactly it. Just a thought. Nothing else to it, don’t waste your brain cells by letting it live in your head. I’m happy where I am. I don’t need a piece of paper telling me that I’m accomplished and successful when I already am.” Penelope snapped. Green eyes glared into Hope’s blue ones which were equally challenging. “Get off my back. You don’t see me bugging you about ‘fixing your life’ now, do I?” She held her fingers up to mimic the air quotes.

Hope sighed and shook her head. “You’re nineteen, Penelope. Your life is just beginning. And I chose to life this life, you didn’t really have a choice. It wasn’t like Marcel was going to be at every parent teacher conference and stay up all night helping you with math homework. He was a great mentor but that was all. Fatherhood was never something he wanted.”

Penelope knew that. While Marcel did a good job _playing_ the role, she knew deep down his heart was never in it. He took more pleasure in teaching Penelope how to hotwire her first car and how to get out of tight situations where you were almost caught than anything else. She wasn’t stupid, maybe a little hopeful?

“That life isn’t meant for me, Hope. I had the opportunity, I could’ve done it years ago but… I like stealing cars. I’m good at it. It definitely beats a desk job.” They both laughed at that. Just picturing any of their friends sitting in a cubicle and working a 9-5 was ridiculous.

“I appreciate that you’re trying to look out for me, but believe me when I say this. I’m happy. The adrenaline rush I get on a job is unbeatable. Getting to do it with my best friend makes it even better.” Hope pulled Penelope into a hug, squeezing the darker haired girl tightly. 

“I love you, Pen. I’d follow you over a cliff.”

Penelope squeezed Hope back just as tightly. “Over a cliff.”

++

It was another early morning the next day. Penelope entered to kitchen to see MG at the stove again but Jed and Hope weren’t there yet.

“Morning. How’d you sleep?” MG shrugged. His normally immaculate hair had evidence of major bedhead and Penelope found it endearing. Even at the crack of dawn, his first instinct was to prepare breakfast for everyone.

“Any jobs for today?” Penelope shook her head as she began prepping the first pot of coffee for the day.

“Buyer will let us know later today, most likely. Consider it your day off. Relax.” Penelope hoisted herself onto the counter next to MG when an idea popped into her head. “Pool party?” She shot him finger guns and watched as a goofy grin took over his sleepy expression.

“How do you know me so well?” MG turned on his heel and dashed up the stairs to wake up the rest of the house. “Guys! Pool party today! Get your lazy asses UP!” Penelope listened to the hasty footsteps sounding off above her as she began pouring four cups of coffee. She heard MG open the bedroom doors with so much excitement she was sure he would’ve ripped them off the hinges if he was any stronger.

“Pool party!” MG yelled followed by a string of expletives from Jed. Another door opened and shut immediately right before the sound of something heavy slamming into what Penelope assumed to be the door.

“Hey! Respect the house!”

MG bounded back down the stairs, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. “Can I invite some people over? I’ve kinda been talking to this girl and I’m positive that if she sees me shirtless then the bag is secured.”

Penelope quirked a brow over the rim of her mug and had to stifle a laugh. “MG. I mean this with all the love in the world. I’ve seen you shirtless. I think you might need to lift a few more weights if that’s all you’re banking on.”

MG looked at her pointedly and proceeded to flex his biceps. The next ten minutes consisted of MG convincing Penelope that MG was as buff as he saw himself to be. She gave in and agreed once Hope and Jed made their way downstairs. They both wore an irritated expression, obviously still tired from the night before when they grabbed their respective mugs.

“Can you at least wait until noon or something before you let him go all toddler on us?” Jed grumbled out before taking a big gulp of his coffee.

Penelope just shrugged, both hands nursing her half empty cup while she leaned against the counter. “What’s the fun in that? MG said he’s bringing a girl over that he’s trying to impress, so be nice.” She pointed at her two friends, expression now serious.

“No trying to steal the girl from him, it was funny the first two times and now it’s just mean.”

“So you agreed it was funny?” Jed grinned.

“Yes,” Penelope said sarcastically. “I don’t remember you laughing much when Alyssa went to bed with MG though.” The green eyed girl shrugged and watched his shoulders sag slightly. Penelope just smirked at him and clapped his shoulder. “Let him shoot his shot. We’ll catch him if he misses.”

++

“They’ll be here any minute. Are we missing anything?”

Penelope looked over the array of foods set on her kitchen island. There were burgers, hot dogs, steaks, assorted fruits and vegetables and just about every chip under the sun. Their fridge was stocked full of drinks with even more in a cooler set outside. MG checked his phone again, his movements fidgety and nervous. Hope walked over to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

“Relax, Milton. You’ll do great. If she’s not interested then it’s her loss.” With that, the three of them began carrying the plates of food out into the backyard. They were on their second trip back when MG’s phone chimed and he quickly shoved the items in his arms into Penelope’s, nearly toppling her over.

“She’s _HERE!_ ”

Penelope let out a laugh. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the poor boy slip at least three times on his way to the door. She followed Hope and Jed the best she could to the backyard and began setting things up nicely. Her eyes caught her own reflection in the window, she was wearing a black bikini top with a matching bottom, but opted to wear shorts for the moment until they were actually swimming.

“Guys! Let me introduce you,” MG stuck his head out of the door and gestured animatedly with one hand for them to come inside.

She walked alongside Hope who wore the same endearing smile. Jed was already inside, likely trying to hit on whoever the poor girl had brought as guests. MG mentioned the girl wanted to bring some friends for company which was understandable.

They rounded the corner and stepped into the cool AC to see MG talking with a tall blonde. She was pale and slender, blue eyed and dimpled cheeks and Penelope knew MG was a goner. Her eyes fell on a girl to the right of the blonde, a darker skinned girl with black hair and a gaze that was piercing. She was shaking Jed’s hand, a warm smile lining her lips as they exchanged greetings. There was one more girl to the blonde’s left and Penelope hoped the sound of her breath hitching wasn’t loud enough for everyone to hear.

It was the brunette from the coffee shop, Josette. Jo? Joey? Whatever. She wore a white t-shirt over what Penelope could make out as a bikini top and denim shorts. She was watching the blonde with a warm smile when her eyes landed on Penelope. Her brown eyes widened and Penelope acted quickly, putting on her best smirk in greeting. They made their way to each other and Penelope was the first to break the silence.

“You didn’t have to come all the way to my house to pay me back for a $2 coffee, sweetheart.”

At first the other girl was caught off guard, the slightest hint of a blush flooding her cheeks until she put on her own challenging smile. “Call it good customer service..?” She trailed off and looked at her expectantly.

“Penelope.” She held out her hand, pleased when the brunette shook it. Her hands were soft and gave the green eyed girl the slightest squeeze.

“Josie.” Penelope’s brows rose, surprised and relieved at finally knowing her name.

  
“Josie,” She said tentatively, as if she were practicing the best way to say it. “What’s that short for?” Of course, Penelope knew what it was short for. The girl’s wallet was still hidden in her coat pocket up in her room. But she just wanted to see if the girl would open up enough to tell her considering how indifferent she seemed at their first encounter.

“That’s a conversation for another time,” Josie said as she turned to walk away, but Penelope was quick enough to step around her.

“So there’ll be another time? My, Josie. Don’t make empty promises now, my poor heart won’t be able to take it.” Josie scoffed but the smile tugging at her lips was enough to know that she wasn’t serious.

“Ahem,” They both turned at the sound of the blonde clearing her throat _much_ too loudly for no reason. Penelope quirked a brow and glanced from the girl to MG who had the goofiest grin on his face. “Do you two know each other?” The blonde gestured between the two girls with a hand, her gaze directed to Josie, expectant.

“We ran into each other at the coffee shop on campus,” Josie said reluctantly before adding. “She bought me coffee.” Penelope turned to face the taller blonde, an innocent smile lining her lips when the girl’s eyes widened.

“P, this is Lizzie. Her and Josie are twins,” MG said with a tight smile. He gave Penelope a warning look, eyes serious and jaw locked. _Don’t mess this up for me,_ she’d imagined he’d say.

“Fraternal.”

“Obviously.”

The two sisters said one after another. Penelope quirked a brow and looked back and forth between them. A soft laugh spilled from her lips and he pointed at them both. “And how many times have you practiced that?”

“We don’t.” Lizzie said at the same time Josie mumbled a quiet ‘too many’.

There was a sudden tension in the air as Penelope and MG watched the sisters exchange a glance. Thankfully, Hope chose that moment to interrupt with a loud clap of her hands. She was dressed similar to Penelope, already in her bikini but still with shorts on.

“Pool’s ready. Jed is grilling the food now and drinks are just waiting to be drank.” Josie looked relieved to have gotten out of her little twin exchange with her sister while Lizzie still seemed a bit irritated. The rest of the group began to follow Hope out to the backyard when the dark haired girl next to Lizzie earlier approached Penelope.

“We haven’t been introduced. I’m Maya,” She immediately shook Penelope’s hand when offered and smiled. “Don’t worry. Lizzie doesn’t ever like people that try to hit on her sister.” Penelope tore her eyes away from Josie’s back to glance over at Maya. “So Josie talks about me?” A lopsided mile was plasteredon Penelope’s face, much to Maya’s amusement. She rested a hand on Penelope’s arm, giving it a light squeeze before walking over to one of the many lounge chairs around the pool. The action intrigued Penelope, it wasn’t warranted and by the look in Maya’s eyes, might not be that innocent either.

“Don’t get over excited now. You have your work cut out for you with Josie.”

The second Maya was out of earshot, MG ran up to Penelope with so much energy that he nearly knocked her over. He gripped her shoulders tightly, the same goofy smile on his face and eyes wide when he dragged her around the corner and out of sight from their guests. “So? Whatdoyouthink? She’sintomeisn’tshe?IthinksheisbutIjustwanttogetyouropinionandbesure.” The words fell out of MG’s mouth so quickly that Penelope had to blink a few times to make sense of the word vomit.

  
“First, let go of me because you’re squeezing me like an empty bottle of toothpaste,” She slapped his hands away and chuckled at the shocked expression on his face. “Second, it seems like you guys get along well. Honestly I wasn’t really paying attention,” She shuffled around the boy, turning her head just slightly so she could get a view from around the wall. Her eyes widened when she saw Hope talking with Lizzie who was twirling a lock of hair around her index finger. She knew the look Hope had in her eyes, it wasn’t a good one. Not for MG at least. She cursed herself inwardly that she forgot to threaten Hope the same way she had Jed.

“Third, I would _not_ be talking to me right now when there’s a certain blue-eyed girl talking up a certain blonde right by the pool.” MG’s eyes widened and bolted off the fastest Penelope had ever seen him move. 

She watched from around the corner as MG tried his best to not seem too nervous approaching the girls. The not so subtle hand that rested on Hope’s shoulder as he did his best to get Lizzie’s attention was endearing. It was rare to see the guy angry and on the occasions that he was frustrated were funnier than expected. Hope eventually got the hint and excused herself to grab a drink from the fridge inside the house to MG’s relief. Penelope followed her best friend inside silently, taking note of how Josie’s gaze followed her from her peripheral.

“Hope. Do I have to give you the talk too?” Penelope could already see Hope’s eye roll when she turned around. Instead, a cold beer was held out to her which she took gladly. They clinked the bottles together and took a long sip.

“I would never hurt MG on purpose,” Hope said before bringing the bottle back up to her lips.

  
“But?”

“But…” A hesitation. “She _is_ cute.”

Penelope choked on her beer, eyes wide as she took in Hope’s sheepish expression. The girl was fucking _blushing_ for Christ’s sake. “No… Hope!”

“What?!”

“Do NOT steal that boy’s girl. There are literally thousands of girls in this city but you want the one that MG likes?”

“There are thousands of girls in this city and yet the one girl you hit on in a coffee shop is the sister of MG’s crush. Are you really surprised about anything anymore?” Hope scoffed. She did have a point. What were the odds that something like this would even happen anyways?

“This conversation isn’t over. Hands off.”

++

MG and Lizzie were in the jacuzzi when Penelope and Hope left the house. Maya was talking to Jed by the grill and Josie was sitting poolside with her legs in the water. A decent amount of time had passed deeming it acceptable for Penelope to approach her now, right? Well she was going to do it anyways.

Equipped with two cold beers, she made her away over to the other side of the pool where Josie sat, eyes focused on the water in front of her. “This seat taken?”

Warm brown eyes met hers and while she normally would be wearing a smirk, a soft smile took it’s place. “Only if that beer is for me.” She handed the drink over happily, smile widening when their fingers brushed against each other. Penelope seated herself down next to Josie, purposefully leaving almost less than an inch between them and turned to face her. She turned just in time to catch Josie’s lingering gaze up and down her body and Penelope had to bite back a snarky comment.

“So, Josie. Seeing as you came all the way to my house to see me again,” She laughed quietly when Josie rolled her eyes. “Tell me about yourself.”

“Keep telling yourself that, Penelope. If I had known I’d be dragged to your house for a pool party, I wouldn’t have come.” Penelope hated the way a chill went through her body when Josie said her name, but it wasn’t enough to distract her from the rest of her words. “Oh?” A mischievous smirk tugged at her lips and she leaned in just a bit to whisper in her ear. She watched as Josie’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head while the blush on her cheeks deepened.

“Something tells me that this won’t be the last time you’ll be here. And trust me sweetheart,” A hand came up to brush a strand of hair from Josie’s eyes. “When I want you here, you’ll be here.” Penelope took the string of fumbled words from Josie’s mouth as an opportunity to stand up and strip off her shorts. She acted as nonchalant as possible but she could _feel_ the girl’s eyes on her. Shooting a flirty wink from over her shoulder, she dived into the pool, purposefully making a big splash. The cold water was a shot of adrenaline straight to her veins, hopefully ridding any and all evidence of a blush.

The first thing she heard as she emerged from the water was Jed whooping from the grill. MG grinned from where he stood next to Lizzie and it was seconds before he was dragging the girl alongside him and into the water. Penelope laughed at the shocked expression on Lizzie’s face when she resurfaced. She was sure it was anger but there was a hint of adoration in her smile.

At least it seemed like his crush wasn’t _exactly_ unrequited.

She turned to face Josie who had their eyes completely glued to Penelope ever since she stepped out of her shorts and dived into the pool. It was exactly the reaction Penelope was hoping for. Josie sitting at the edge of the pool, hands gripping the edge and jaw slightly askew. With a crooked finger, she motioned for Josie to join her in the pool.

To her surprise, Josie stood up. Her jaw was set and eye contact unwavering as she stripped herself of her shirt and shorts, making it Penelope’s turn for her jaw to hit the floor. She swallowed audibly at sight. Josie’s legs were long and smooth, her stomach flat and body just, overall toned and _God,_ Penelope wished this girl wouldn’t play games with her. It wasn’t until Josie jumped into the pool shortly after that she was broken out of her haze. She tried to flash her a smirk when the girl resurfaced but instead she was greeted with a splash of water and a mischievous smile. Josie had broken the eye contact and struck up a conversation with her sister and Maya. From the corner of her eye she could see Hope with the stupidest fucking grin on her face.

As subtle as possible, she flipped her the bird and swam over to MG. “When’s the wedding?”

MG laughed and moved to dunk his head under water one more time. “Soon, if I could help it. But I don’t want to mess this up. I really do like her and don’t want to scare her off.” Ah, damn. The kid just knew how to tug at Penelope’s heart strings.

“Don’t worry. It seems like what you’ve been doing so far is working. Drowning, however isn’t one of them.”

He looked at her confused, unsure of where that topic of conversation even came from. But it was a split second before he realized too late, the look on Penelope’s face. She clapped both hands onto his shoulders and jumped up, putting all her weight into it while her foot found the back of his knees and caused him to fall down. Penelope laughed, swimming away quickly before MG could get his retaliation.

They stayed in the pool for a little while longer until Jed called out that the food was ready. Everyone, including Jed had did their best cannonball per MG’s request by the time the food was being served out. They sat at the fold out table by the pool where all the food lay. Conversations were light, Josie and Lizzie told stories about how people refused to believe they were twins which Maya also chimed in on since her and her brother were twins but also looked nothing alike.

Everyone else stayed relatively quiet or were very vague about their families besides MG. Somehow even after all the things his family put him through, nothing but good things came from his mouth. Penelope was well into her second burger when her phone went off. The ringtone was specific, her team all sparing a glance in her direction as she excused herself and went to answer it inside.

“Got two jobs.” The voice on the other end opened up with.

Penelope took a swig from her beer before answering.

“Details?”

“2010 Camaro SS and ’04 Mercedes C230. Shipment in five days. Fifty grand total.”

She skimmed her finger along the calendar that was hanging on the kitchen fridge. Five days would be more than enough. “Done.” The call ended, just like that. Shorter conversations the better, there was no need for pleasantries when you get straight to the point. Green eyes scanned the view of her backyard through the window. Everyone was preoccupied with eating or laughing which meant it was perfect for her to return Josie’s wallet. She darted up the stairs and into her room to grab the wallet, quickly making her way back down. Her eyes stayed glued to the windows to make sure no one saw her running like a madman in the house.

Her eyes landed on the bag Josie came in with the second she stepped into the living room. She was just about to slip the wallet back into the bag when she heard the door swing open.

“Penelope?” Josie’s voice echoed in the large house and Penelope felt her soul leave her body. She held the wallet behind her back with one hand, the other holding a beer that was conveniently left on the counter.

“What’s up?”

Josie’s brows furrowed as she drank in Penelope’s demeanor. If she noticed anything off, she didn’t let it show. Instead she took a few steps towards her until she was just three feet away. “What are you doing?”

Penelope quirked a brow. She’s gotten herself out of worse situations, a pretty girl isn’t anything. “Just answered a call. Why, miss me already?” She took a daring step towards her, the wallet in her other hand suddenly felt heavier by the minute.

The brunette just rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I just wanted to make sure everything was okay. You kind of had a weird look when you left.” Weirdly enough, it touched Penelope that Josie noticed that much. What kind of person notices that and cares enough to go after someone they just met? Is Josie just a girl or is she an actual saint?

But now wasn’t the time for fluff. If Josie caught her with her wallet in her hand right now, things will be over before they even started and Josie didn’t even like her at the moment. She needed a way to get Josie out of the room, but it wasn’t like she could just _ask_ the girl to leave. That’s when an idea popped into her head.

She shimmied one shoulder, doing her best to loosen one of the straps of her bikini until it fell off. Green eyes darted up in time to see Josie’s brown ones flicker from her chest to her face. Penelope put on her best seductive smirk, happy with how things were starting out. “Maybe this was my plan to get you alone all along,” She kept her voice low on purpose, doing her best to make sure it had the huskiness that practically always got the girls on their knees.

“How about it, Jojo? Want to take me right here against the counter? I’ll do my best to be quiet since everyone is just outside.”

It got the reaction she needed because Josie’s eyes widened and she turned redder than a tomato. The girl quickly spun on her heel and made a beeline for the backyard door, murmuring something along the lines of ‘ _you try and be a good person’_ and ‘ _can’t believe I actually stared at her boobs’_. Penelope pulled the strap back on her shoulder as soon as the door slammed shut. She waited until she saw Josie plop herself back down on her seat before returning the wallet back to it’s rightful owner at the _very bottom_ of the bag. She checked her reflection in the mirror on her way out of the house, ruffling her hair just enough to be questionable. All eyes were on her when she stepped out of the house and began walking towards the table. A cocky grin lined her lips as she approached her friends, stopping short at the ice chest. T

“Who wants another beer?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you ever just start writing and end up word vomiting? That's kind of what happened with this chapter lol. I decided to leave it be and not cut it up since it would've read weirdly if I had. I'm trying to find a good balance between dialogue and actual story telling so it might be odd for a while. I'm allsooo trying out a new dynamic between the two and not make it too similar to how they are in my other fic lol. Let me know your thoughts!


	3. Chapter 3

“Pay day!”

The black duffle bag made a cloud _clunk_ as Jed dropped the bag onto the dining room table. All four friends gathered around to sort out their earnings from the previous job. “Tell me why again, people would rather work desk jobs for the rest of their lives?” MG held up a stack of cash to his ear like a phone.

“Because they’re _boring_ , young Milton. Why retire at 60 when you can retire at 25?” Jed grinned at his friend.

“Guys,” Penelope snapped her fingers to get their attention. “I know this is your guys’ money and you can spend it however you want. But I swear to God if I see another one of your… _toys,_ I’m beating you into the ground with them. So long story short, make sure I’m not the one having to greet the delivery truck driver.”

A light blush dusted both of the boys’ cheeks as they ducked their heads down and scurried off to their rooms, cash in hand.

“And I thought I was the mom of the group.” Hope laughed as she started stacking her money into a pyramid. “I didn’t get that talk. How do you know none of those toys were mine?”

Penelope quirked a brow at her friend who only smirked in response. She tossed the bag over and shoulder and began making her way upstairs. “House rules. Applies to everyone.”

Today was another day off. They had gotten the job that was assigned four days ago at the pool party done, now they just needed to wait for the payment to finalize. But there were a handful of things that needed to be done. The house had to be cleaned, she would call for a service later, she needed to look into businesses to purchase for a cover. Eventually people are going to wonder where a group of young adults got all this money from. They could only use the inheritance excuse for so long considering Penelope’s parents weren’t the wealthiest.

They needed to find more tools for jobs, it never hurt to have another set ready, especially the extra license plates. She checked her watch, _11:00am._ She was due for a coffee by now… and what were the chances that she could run into a certain brunette at a coffee shop? It took one minute to throw the duffle bag on her bed and another thirty seconds to hop down the stairs where she nearly ran into Hope.

“Woah, got somewhere to be?” He steadied her with both hands around her arms which she shrugged off.

“Coffee run.” His eyes dropped to the keys in her hands then gestured to the kitchen behind him. “Our coffee suddenly not good anymore?”

Penelope chewed the inside of her cheek, she was caught. Her eyes flickered back and forth from him to the garage door before sighing. “Trying something new.”

Then it dawned on him. A stupid grin spread across his features and he let out a laugh. “You’re going to the university coffee shop, aren’t you? Someone’s got a crush.” MG said in a singsong voice. Penelope just rolled her eyes and side stepped around the boy. “Oh please, like you’re any different. ‘Do you think she likes me as much as I like her? I hope that she doesn’t mind if I put my hand on her arm.’” She dropped her voice a few octaves to mimic him which only earned her a playful shove.

“Whatever, go get see your girl.”

“She’s not my girl! Not yet!”

++

The coffee shop wasn’t as busy as the last time she was here. There were a handful of students sitting by themselves on their laptops while the others were chatting quietly over their drinks. She stood in line, eyes darting to the door each time the bell above rang. If you had asked Penelope a month ago if she saw herself driving ten miles to the university coffee shop just to catch a glimpse of a pretty girl, she would’ve laughed in your face.

Yet, here we are.

She grabbed her drink and went to sit at a secluded table near a window. The day had barely started and she was already so tired. One of these days she was going to have to set aside for pure sleep. She sipped her coffee, letting her eyes wander outside the window when she spotted her. Josie was walking by herself, a book held close to her chest with one hand while the other gripped the strap of her backpack. Her gaze was fixed to the floor as she headed in the direction of the coffee shop but there was something in her posture that made even Penelope scared to approach her. She watched as the other girl smiled at the worker at the cash register and ordered her drink with what seemed like practice ease.

Her attention stayed focused on the phone in her hand while she waited and Penelope took that as her chance.

Her steps were deliberately slow as she approached the girl, only making her presence known when she was close enough to whisper in her ear.

“Keep your guard up.”

Josie jumped at the contact, a hand darting to cover her ear and a blush coating the apples of her cheeks. “P-Penelope? What are you doing here?” The darker haired girl smirked up at her as she brushed away some stray strands that had fallen loose. “Can’t a girl come down to the university to see her favorite brunette?”

Josie’s brows knitted together, the blush only deepening. “You drove all the way down here just to see me? Why do I find that hard to believe?”

Penelope took a step closer, hand still fiddling with a lock of Josie’s hair. “Please. A beautiful girl like you, I’d walk across the country just to see you smile.” Josie rolled her eyes, a light laugh leaving her lips, but the small smile lining her lips told Penelope otherwise. “Plus, we still never set a day for the date. And if I remember correctly, you were pretty adamant about paying me back. I wasn’t going to let Josette Saltzman forget to take me out on a date.”

Did Josie really not see herself? Those brown eyes, that smile, her legs.. _Though they’d look much better wrapped around my waist._ Josie cleared her throat, grabbing Penelope by the elbow and leading her to a table near the entrance. “Look, Penelope. I’ve got a lot of schoolwork to get done this week because of midterms, and frankly, I already have so much on my plate as is—“

“Jojo,” Penelope cut her off before the girl could ramble even more with a hand on top of hers. Their eyes met and Penelope smiled. “I’m not asking you to marry me. I’m offering a night off, it sounds like you need one. Dinner and if you play your cards right, a little nightcap.” She winked. “I’ve been told I’m good at relieving stress.”

Josie thought for a moment, worrying into her bottom lip as she thought over her options. Penelope just watched. Even when she was wasn’t even trying, she was ridiculously cute. How was it possible for someone to look so good all the time?

“Okay.”

Wow. That was a lot easier than Penelope expected.

“Really?”

“Trying to make me second guess now?”

“Definitely not.”

Penelope pursed her lips, it was still early in the day and she didn’t know what kind of schedule Josie had. Her next day off was unknown at the moment, jobs popped up whenever they wanted to. It could be days or weeks until their next job or vice versa until their next day off. “Are you free tonight?”

The brunette pulled out a planner from her bag and quickly skimmed the pages. “I have class until 5pm today, but I’ll be free after. Wait, _I’m_ supposed to be the one taking _you_ out.” Penelope laughed and shook her head. “Don’t go exposing my elaborate plan for a second date already, Saltzman. I changed my mind. You can return the favor later, I would much rather be the one to wine and dine you first.” She took the planner from the other girl’s hands and using the pen that was already attached, she wrote her number down on the page.

“I’ll pick you up at 7. Text me your address.”

She picked up her drink and made her way out of the coffee shop then, leaving Josie with just a flirty smile. Hopefully the girl would take her up on her offer. With the way that Josie had been playing hard to get, she wouldn’t be surprised if she never heard from her again. Whether it was going to be a date night or a night in, Penelope didn’t mind. But part of her hoped Josie would say yes.

++

The second she got home, she made a beeline for her room. On the off chance that she would be bringing Josie back, she needed to make sure that it was clean. First were the sheets. While Penelope did make sure to change them out as often as needed, having a clean set never hurt. She dusted every visible surface, replaced the scened plug ins and scrubbed the bathroom down to the point where they could eat off it. The room was pristine.. the rest of the house? She was going to have to call the housekeeper for that. There was no way she could clean the whole house in the next two hours.

Her phone rang with a notification the moment she ripped off the rubber gloves and tossed them in the trash bin.

_Unknown: So what should I be wearing for this date?_

_Unknown: This is Josie_

Penelope smiled, like she was going to forget who she gave her number to.

_Penelope: You don’t have to wear anything at all, I won’t mind ;)_

_Penelope: Casual is fine, I’m sure you’ll look beautiful no matter what you wear._

She could just imagine the blush on Josie’s face right now. It was so easy to get the girl flustered that Penelope couldn’t help herself. A minute later her phone buzzed again.

_Josie: You’re impossible._

_Penelope: I can’t wait to see you too._

“Penelope.” She flicked her gaze up to see Hope standing at her door, arms crossed and a brow raised in question. “What’s got you smiling like an idiot?”

“Hot date.” She held out her phone for Hope to take. Her blue eyes widened when she saw the name and she looked up again. “How did you even manage that? She seemed more interested in the pool’s pH levels than you.” Penelope snatched her phone back from Hope and scoffed. “It’s called putting in effort, my dear Hope. You _do_ have to work for people’s affections sometimes, you should try it. It’ll keep you humble.”

“I’m surprised,” Hope said as she took a seat in Penelope’s desk chair. “I didn’t think you had it in you to work for a date.”

“What can I say? I like a challenge.” They shared a laugh before Penelope spoke again. “Now, help me pick out an outfit. I intend to make it hard for her to say no to seeing me again.”

++

She was ten minutes early to pick up Josie. There was an arsenal of cars that Penelope was thinking of taking. Would the Tesla be overkill? How about the Audi? She ended up settling on a Mercedes solely because she ended up spending more time deciding than she intended and was almost late. In the end she ended up being early. Just her luck. She hopped up the steps of Josie’s porch and barley managed to knock on the door before it swung open. Lizzie greeted her with a sickly sweet smile but the facade dropped when her eyes fell on the car parked by the curb.

“Penelope. Pulling out all the stops?”

The green eyed girl chuckled quietly, a hand moving to rub the back of her neck. “That obvious?”

“Word of advice; don’t try that hard. Josie doesn’t care about material things.”

Lizzie moved aside to let Penelope enter the house. It was a two story house. Photos lined the walls of the hallway leading to the living room where a large C shaped couch sat in front of a large TV. Everything about the house was cozy, the family portraits, cheesy kitchen decorations and even the left over holiday knickknacks. A pang of sadness hit Penelope in the gut at the sight, reminiscent of the home that was taken from her. She quickly shook the thought out and turned to face the photos. Josie stood next to Lizzie behind their parents who were sitting on chairs. They had the biggest smiles on their faces despite the obviously shabby photographer set up. Next to it was a photo of Josie in a graduation gown with who Penelope assumed to be her mother, then another of the same photo but with Lizzie.

Her eyes fell on one particular frame of Josie next to her father. Josie couldn’t have been more than twelve in the photo but it was the man next to her that caught Penelope’s eye. He was kneeling next to Josie in the photo, dressed in a crisp police uniform with a bunch of balloons floating behind them. One arm was around Josie while the other held up a plaque, _Alaric Saltzman, Chief of Police._

She quickly scanned the rest of the photos. Another of Josie’s dad, this time a headshot of him wearing his hat, a serious look on his face and the American flag behind him. It was like the second she realized the one detail, it all started popping up around her. Everywhere in the house were little bits of police decor. The blanket on the couch was from the police academy, it’s emblem embroidered right in the middle.

Fuck.

She was in the house of the Chief of Police.

Double fuck.

She was about to go on a _date_ with the _daughter of the Chief of Police._

“Don’t let Josie see that look on your face.” Lizzie’s voice brought Penelope out of her thoughts and she looked at the blonde quizzically.

“What?”

“That look. Everyone we’ve ever brought home had that look after they realized our dad is a cop. Never ends well.” She mumbled the last part bitterly. Green eyes followed Lizzie as she walked over to the bottom of the stairs and shouted, “Josie! Your date is here! Get her before she has a heart attack!”

Penelope bit into her lip as she thought over the situation. Alright. She was in a police officer’s house. She didn’t recognize Alaric’s face which was a good thing, but that didn’t mean that Alaric didn’t know what Penelope looked like. She had had her fair share of run ins with the law over the years but they never had enough to make any charges stick. Her people were good like that.

Suddenly, one particular incident came to mind.

She had just picked up a car from the pier and was on her way to the drop off point when police lights lit up behind her. Luckily she had managed to switch out the license plates before driving away but they would only keep the police busy for so long. The police officer that pulled her over that day was a blonde guy by the name of M. Donovan. She remembered that. As he walked away with Penelope’s ‘license’ and ‘registration’, she dialed the follow car behind her for a distraction but not before overhearing him mention something to a Chief Saltzman over the radio. Distractions tended to be over the top, enough to get the police to leave and go find something that wasn’t there. That time it was gunshots. Penelope ripped off the license plates once the police drove off and abandoned the car in favor of riding in the one Jed pulled up in.

Saltzman wasn’t a common surname, but that incident happened so long ago that she completely forgot about it. Crap. This was a whole lot of shit she wasn’t anticipating to be in.

The soft clicks of heels down the wooden stairs tore her out of her thought process once more and suddenly she forgot what she was even thinking. Josie stood at the bottom of the stairs in a red polka dot dress, her hair falling down in waves to her shoulders and a shy smile tugging at her lips. For a girl that was so full of herself before, it was weird to see her so timid now.

“You look amazing.” Penelope managed to get out. She hadn’t realized that they were both just staring at each other like idiots until Lizzie cleared her throat from across the room. Penelope went to meet her at the stairs, offering her hand before leading them out of the house.

“Have her home by curfew!” Lizzie shouted before the door came to a close.

“You look nice too.” Josie finally said after Penelope helped her into the passenger seat. She clicked on her seatbelt and glanced over at Penelope who had been doing the same only to see the flirty smirk that the green eyed girl always wore around her.

“Only nice? This is my Sunday best, sweetheart. But I’m sure this top would look better on the floor of my bedroom next to yours.” Penelope winked at her again and started up the car.

“Don’t you ever get tired of that? The flirting and inappropriate comments?”

“Do they make you uncomfortable?”

Josie thought for a moment, fingers toying with the edge of her dress. “I’ve just never met someone that does it as much as you. They usually give up after I reject them.”

“Well I’ve never met someone like _you,_ either. Truthfully? I like seeing you get flustered.” She smirked at Josie who just shook her head. “It’s just how I’ve always been. Why hide the fact that I think someone’s attractive? If I want to compliment someone, I’ll do it. You should take notes, Saltzman.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

Penelope held her gaze for a few seconds before turning back to face the road. “I look ‘nice’? Please. You can say I’m hot, Jojo. I saw the way you were ogling me.” The blush that coated her cheeks was a deep red, almost matching the same as her dress. It only made Penelope laugh even more. She pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant and turned off the car.

“You should learn to speak your mind more. It’s more fun than keeping things to yourself.” She jumped out of the car quickly so she could go around and open Josie’s door. The taller girl just looked at her, confused at first but then her eyes softened at the gesture. Without having to say anything, Josie took Penelope’s hand in hers and made their way to the entrance.

“Park. Table for two.” The hostess nodded wordlessly and led them to a secluded table in low light. The table was small enough that Penelope could reach over and touch Josie if she wanted to. She made sure that their table was away from the business of the rest of the restaurant.

“Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a restaurant this nice. These plants are real!” She pointed to the potted plant sat right in the middle of their table, eyes wide in shock. Penelope smiled at the sight in front of her. The girl that was on the same level of Penelope’s witty banter and playing hard to get… was intrigued by a plant.

_The girl is also the daughter of the police chief too, don’t forget that._

“So, Josie. Tell me about yourself. You still live at home with your parents? What’s that like?”

The waiter set two glasses of water along with empty wine glasses in front of them before stalking off to find the bottle of wine Penelope chose out beforehand. “It’s okay. It’s mainly just to save money until I’m done with college. Why waste money on an apartment when I could live at home where I can see my parents everyday?” Penelope matched the smile on Josie’s face, though hers was adoring for other reasons.

“Lizzie and I talked about sharing an apartment together after college. People always ask how I can handle being around the same person for so long but it never occurred to me. Other people tend to get tired of certain company after a while, but Lizzie and I are so close that I couldn’t imagine _not_ being around her for the rest of my life.” Josie was fiddling with the napkin folded on her plate again.

“What about you?”

Penelope shrugged. “My parents died when I was young. I lived with a family friend until I was old enough to live on my own, but I get what you mean about not getting tired of people. I’ve known everyone that you met at the pool party for what seems like forever. I’d trust them with my life.”

Josie’s shoulders deflated visibly at Penelope’s confession but she was quick to fix it. The waiter showed up then, ready to take their orders. Both girls just picked whatever their eyes landed on first simply just to get rid of the waiter so they could continue their conversation.

“Wow, living on your own? That’s amazing. How do you do it?”

Penelope smirked at her and leaned forward, chin resting on her upturned palm. “I sell cars. It’s good money.”

“Maybe you can get me a car, lord knows I’m in desperate need of a new one.”

“I can get you whatever you want. Just name it.”

“That’s quite a statement to make, Penelope. People are going to think you mean more than just cars.” Josie quirked a brow over the rim of her glass as she took a sip.

“I do _everything_ on purpose, babe. Let them think what they want.” Penelope sipped from her glass. The smile on Josie’s face each time their eye contact lasted longer than thirty seconds made Penelope’s stomach do backflips.

“What do your parents do?” She said just as the waiter came back and set their food in front of them. Penelope gave him a look to leave, hopefully he got the hint to not come back unless asked.

“My mom’s a recruiter. She’s usually traveling to different cities and sometimes countries. The company she works for is very picky on who they hire, it’s rarely ever in-house. And.. my dad’s a cop, which I’m sure you know already. I saw you staring at the stuff in the house.”

Penelope just nodded, wiping the corner of her mouth with a napkin. “Sorry. I was just surprised is all. Though it does make sense to me now, you seem like you’d be good at interrogating people.” That earned her another shy smile from Josie but this time her gaze was fixed on the food in front of her. “I worry a lot about his job sometimes. It’s dangerous and I wish he could retire soon. It’s hard going to bed at night not knowing if he’ll be there in the morning when I wake.”

Her fork stilled for a moment. Josie’s eyes had lost a bit of it’s light and all Penelope wanted to do was reach over and touch her. “I’m sure he does everything to stay safe. You shouldn’t worry too much, from what I’ve seen, he’s got loads of experience.” The words tasted weird in her mouth. She was reassuring a girl that her _cop_ father would be safe from criminals. As if Penelope had never had her fair share of gun fights with the law. How many of those times was she shooting at Josie’s father?

“Tell me about school.” Josie smiled at her and picked up her fork again. “It kills me sometimes but I love it.”

They strayed away from heavy topics after that for the rest of dinner. Instead, Penelope listened as Josie went on about the time her English professor went on a thirty minute long tangent about Millennial misuse of your and you’re. And in turn, Josie listened to Penelope talk about what it was like growing up with Hope and having to live with two teenage boys. Spoiler; they have separate bathrooms for a reason. They stepped out of the restaurant hand in hand after Josie suggested a dessert place not too far from the restaurant. But as Penelope went to open the door for Josie, Josie took her by surprise when she pressed Penelope up against the car door, one hand cupping the nape of her neck.

Their eyes met in the dark light. Josie’s lips were inches away from Penelope’s and the scent of Josie’s perfume flooded her senses. Josie’s eyes darted down to her lips when her tongue peaked out just slightly. She barley managed to meet her gaze before Josie pressed her lips to hers. Her lips were soft and _God,_ she tasted good. Was that strawberry chapstick? Penelope’s hand came up to the back of Josie’s head, holding her close so she could deepen the kiss. Josie’s arms snaked around her shoulders and held her securely while Penelope’s free hand fell to the small of Josie’s back. The moan that escaped the taller girl’s lips when Penelope swiped her tongue against her bottom lip almost made Penelope rip the polka dot dress to shreds.

The kiss broke off when both girls needed air, their lungs burning and chests heaving in tandem. Josie’s lips were swollen from the kiss and the hunger in her eyes was primal. She leaned in, lightly nipping at Penelope’s ear before letting out a breathy whisper,

“Take me back to your place.”

Penelope’s hands tightened around her hips and she held her close, their bodies flushed.

“Gladly.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you guys imagine Josie's major to be? I can see her as either a nursing or English major, maybe even education. Let me know what you think! Feedback is always appreciated :) stay sane ~


	4. Chapter 4

The first thing Penelope registered the next morning was the fluff of brown hair tickling her nose. Next was the very warm and _oh_ , _naked_ body wrapped around hers. Suddenly the delicious ache between her legs registered in her brain. As green eyes fluttered open to take in the sunlight spilling in from the window far off to the side of her room, she replayed the previous night’s events in her head.

The teeth, tongues, _the biting._ Imagine the look on Penelope’s face when she heard the whimper that left Josie’s lips the second her teeth grazed the inner part of her thigh. And then again along her spine. The arm that was wrapped around Josie’s waist tightened, making the other girl roll over in her sleep to nose her way into the crook of Penelope’s neck, a content sigh leaving her lips once she was comfortable. She stayed there for a little while longer, happy to just listen to the sounds of Josie’s breathing until her bladder told her it was time to get up.

Being as careful as possible, she pulled herself out from underneath the brunette, quickly shoving a pillow in her place. She located a pair of boy shorts from the drawer and threw on a tank top before making her way to the door, only half stumbling over the forgotten harness that laid at the foot of her bed. _Whoops._ On her way out she spotted the mess that was her neck. Dark purple mouth shaped bruises littered her skin all over, it brought a smile to her lips.

Hope was at the kitchen this morning instead of MG, most likely still sleeping off a hangover that he probably shared with Jed. “Didn’t think you’d be awake for another four hours at least. Any time any of you guys bring someone home, just know I’m eternally grateful for your insistence of soundproofing the rooms.” Penelope shot her a finger gun in acknowledgement and began pouring two cups of coffee.

“Don’t gotta tell me twice. Remember the girl that Jed brought home that wouldn’t shut the hell up? I mean c’mon, after a while you’re just playing a part.” Hope hummed in agreement, her eyes focused on the bacon frying in front of her. Penelope took a long drink of her coffee and tiptoed over to the stairs to get a glance at her door. All doors were still closed, the only sounds in the house was that of Hope cooking at the stove. She walked back over to her friend, leaning back against the counter so she could face the rest of the house in case anyone were to walk in on the conversation.

“I found out something last night.” She said quietly. Her mug stayed inches away from her lips but green eyes kept flickering back and forth.

“What? Josie’s G-spot?”

“Fuck off. You’re going to want to hear this.” An exasperated sigh came from Hope and she turned to face the darker haired girl with her arms crossed. “What?”

“Josie’s dad is Chief of Police.”

“..What?”

“Did I fucking stutter?”

Hope stared at her, slack jawed for a few seconds before she shook herself out of her stupor. “You know what this means right?” Penelope just nodded, her teeth worrying into the inside of her cheek. The two friends spoke at the same time.

“I can’t keep her around—“

“You need to keep her—“

Penelope almost slammed her mug onto the counter. The incredulous look that painted her features didn’t do justice to the confusion she truly felt. “No. That’s a liability. If she finds anything, she’ll go straight to her dad and the life I promised you all will be taken away just like that.” She snapped her fingers for emphasis.

“That’s true, but we’re _careful._ We don’t let slip-ups like that happen. But you have to think of it the other way around. If you keep up a little romance with her and get on the family’s good side, they’d never suspect you. Not to mention you’d practically have access to all the station’s info.” Hope said matter-of-factly as she turned her attention back on making breakfast.

Penelope shook her head, firm on her decision. “No. You think I have time to be playing double agent like that? I wouldn’t do that to Josie. Just because I’m a criminal doesn’t mean I’m void of all morals.” Hope looked up at her through thick lashes and shrugged casually.

“Think with your head and not your vagina. We’ll see what you say tomorrow.”

Deep down Penelope knew Hope was right. It was a good idea. But she wasn’t going to let herself think of all the opportunities that would be granted to them if she said yes. Instead, she stacked plate full of the food Hope prepared, grabbed a cup of coffee (and orange juice, just in case) and went upstairs to wake up the pretty girl in her bed.

Josie was still wrapped around the pillow that Penelope stuffed under her earlier when she entered. She set the plate on the nightstand by her bed and slid under the covers to wrap her arms around Josie. She peppered kisses all over her bare back, slowly making her way up to her neck where she found evidence of last night’s festivities. In fact, they weren’t only limited to her neck. If Penelope checked, she would probably find the same on her own body.

“Mhm..” The mumble vibrated from deep within Josie as she turned onto her back. One brown eye fluttered open to stare up at Penelope who looked back with a soft smile. “Good morning. I brought breakfast.” She pressed another kiss to her cheek and sat up to offer both the coffee and orange juice. “I wasn’t sure which you’d prefer so I brought both.”

Penelope watched as Josie sat up, letting the blanket pool at her waist and effectively making Penelope’s brain short-circuit. “That’s sweet. But you staring at my boobs kind of kills the moment.”

“Huh?” She tore her gaze away to meet Josie’s eyes again. They were crinkled at the end because of the amused smile on her face but she took the coffee nonetheless. Penelope stole a sip herself from the orange juice before trading it for the plate of food to offer Josie. She took in Josie’s wide eyes as she drank from the mug, shaking her head. “Wow, okay.”

“What?” Penelope asked as she took a bite from a piece of bacon.

“This coffee is good. Yet you drove all the way to the university coffee shop where it tastes like mud water half the time.” Josie looked at her in disbelief while Penelope shrugged. “Things would be a lot easier if you just choose to believe me, sweetheart.” That only earned her a playful eye roll from Josie. “Maybe I’m just not used to someonegoing to such lengths for my attention.”

Penelope watched her silently. The way her fingers traced the lip of her mug slowly, the way her eyes refused to meet hers after such a confession, she would’ve found it endearing if it wasn’t so heartbreaking that Josie truly thought this way. So, she took the cup from the brunette’s hands and set it on the nightstand instead. Josie looked at her with a confused look that quickly dissipated when Penelope wrapped a hand around the back of Josie’s neck to press a kiss to her lips. Penelope reveled in the feeling of Josie just immediately _melting_ into the kiss but she quickly broke it off before it got too heated. “If you keep me around then I will be more than happy to be that someone.”

They met again in a kiss much more intense than the first, then another. Then one more as Penelope pushed the girl down into the mattress. Kisses were being trailed down the column of Josie’s neck, occasionally stopping to lightly suck a bruise into her skin. Josie had said no marks but just one little one wouldn’t hurt. _A little something so she wouldn’t forget._ And judging by the sounds that Josie made as Penelope slid in between her legs, she wouldn’t be forgetting anything any time soon.

_++_

Josie ended up staying for another hour after their little morning tryst. She left with her wild hair pulled back into a bun and in some spare clothes that Penelope promised her she was free to keep after one last bruising kiss. The past twenty four hours were full of fun, but now it was back to work. Shortly after Josie left the house, Penelope received a call about another job but this one was different. They would consider themselves professional car thieves, sure. Anyone could steal a car that was stationary. But stealing a car that was being transported without the driver knowing? That was going to be difficult. Tesla was planning on having shipping their new models via truck in a little over two months and the buyer was going to pay a hefty sum for just one. Two would be ideal.

The four friends gathered around the dinner table, a map of the highway spread out on it along with the information on who could be driving the carrier trucks.

“How the hell are we going to pull this off? Taking a car from inside a carrier truck is going to be a little difficult if you guys forgot.” Jed said sarcastically.

“Then we steal the whole damn truck.” MG turned his laptop around for his friends to see. “For a company as grand as Tesla, their security is kind of easy to hack into. I’ll need a little longer to find the employee ID templates so we can make fake ones, but I _should_ be able to rework the system so that one of you guys,” He pointed to the three of them. “Drives the truck instead. Details can be discussed later.”

“That’s great!”

“We’re going to need someone that’s good with makeup for a disguise then. Showing our faces at a company like _Tesla_ will only guarantee an arrest.” Hope commented, more for herself than for anyone else to hear.

“Sounds good. I’m going to draw up a more detailed plan and check for more jobs in the mean time. I’ll be in my room if you need me.” Penelope gathered up the papers on the desk and made her way back to her room after making herself a cup of coffee.

Big jobs like this were rare. Doing small jobs gave them more than enough income for them to live comfortably so there truly wasn’t a need for more. But that didn’t mean they weren’t up for a challenge every now and then, they just had to be cautious. The last thing they needed as a repeat of what happened over two years ago.

…

_The job was botched._

_“Don’t you dare.. fucking close your eyes, Milton. I’ll bring you back…just so ..I can kick your ass for leaving me.” Penelope sputtered in between heavy breaths, a sharp pain that told her her lungs were fucked. She wheezed in another breath, her own eyes starting to feel heavy but remembering that she needed to focus her attention on her friend instead. “Hope.. and Jed will be here soon. We’re going to be.. fine.”_

_This job was different than what they usually did and it was the first time they were stealing something other than cars. She knew deep down that they were in over their heads but the greed got the best of them. All they could think about was the money and now they were about to bleed out because of it. The plan should’ve been a red flag from the start. They had never done a car chase as intense as this before so naturally, they did some research._

_They watched the Fast and the Furious._

_It wasn’t good research._

_Looking back now, Penelope could only laugh at how foolish they had been to think they could drive along the side of a semi. Her right arm reached over to grab MG’s as tightly as she could. Blood was pouring down the side of his face and a large shard stuck out of his side. Penelope could feel the air leaving her lungs, making it harder to breathe. She could feel a deep gash on the side of her head, making blood pour all the way down her neck. She wasn’t sure if she could feel her right leg while her left arm was broken in more ways than one._

_“We’re… sticking to cars.. from now on.” MG’s words were slurred but Penelope was grateful that he was speaking at all. A sad chuckle left her lips, swallowing the blood in her mouth. “Agreed.”_

_In the midst of trying to catch up to the semi that was nearing a hundred miles an hour, Penelope failed to realize how underprepared they were. Her eyes landed on the ski mask clad head that stuck out the passenger window and then her heart dropped when she saw the gun in their hands. She barely had time to even think about her own gun before the person shot at their tires._

_They blew instantly. The wheel became hard to turn, causing them to swerve in and out of the lanes and somehow, the car ended up flipping. They rolled twice before settling upside down in the dirt. Tired green eyes flickered up to the smashed rearview mirror when she heard a car approaching. They had probably been stuck there for close to an hour by the time Hope and Jed drove up._

_Penelope didn’t remember much after that. She remembered looking up into Jed’s scared eyes, she remembered Hope gingerly assessing all her wounds, and she remembered giving MG’s hand one last squeeze before being pulled out of the car._

_Hope later told her that she slept for two days straight. They were brought back to the Bennett’s underground ‘hospital’. It was too risky for them to ever be admitted a real hospital, so instead they made sure to find the next best thing. Luckily Hope still had some connections to the people of her past._

_The Bennetts had a makeshift ‘hospital’, if you will, in their basement run by Hope’s Aunt Bonnie’s son, Lorenzo Jr. Honestly it was more blackmarket than anything. Anytime they needed anything medical related, they went to them. Penelope and their friends always made sure to pay the Bennett’s a good lump of cash for their services, either that or whatever car they wanted that year._

_“Penelope?” The sound of Jed’s voice was enough to bring her back to consciousness. But suddenly she realized she much preferred being in a coma because of the agonizing feeling of a tube sticking down into her lungs. Weak hands moved to claw at the tub, just dying to rip it out. But Jed’s hands pulled at them, easily pinning them to the mattress as a nurse hurried to her side to remove the tube._

_She coughed a little too violently the second it left her lungs and immediately regretted it when a sharp pain stabbed at her side. It was unnatural, that feeling. A machine taking away her own will to breathe, not to mention the fucking object just lodged into her throat. She finally looked at Jed once she managed to catch her breath and take in her surroundings. His eyes were puffy and red, and his hair was a mess, he runs his hand through it when he’s nervous._

_Penelope gave him her best smirk. “Can’t get rid of me that easily.” Her voice was hoarse and it hurt to talk, but it was worth it to see the relieved smile on Jed’s face. Jed released a breath, his laughter strained as he leaned forward to hug her as best as he could._

_“You both scared the shit out of me. God, there was so much blood and.. I swore I saw pieces of brain or something on the dashboard.” Penelope lolled her head to the side to see MG still asleep, his own intubation tube sticking out of his lips._

_“What’s the damage?”_

_“Surprisingly not a lot,” Hope said once she entered the room, holding a tray of medicine and foods. “We’re going to need to work on your breathing for a while, your lung was punctured. And memory for the both of you will be spotty for a few weeks but Doc said it should come back soon.” Hope leaned over to hug Penelope carefully and it was then that she saw she had been crying too._

_“Hope Mikaelson showing emotion? I should flip a car more often.” Penelope said sarcastically. The look on her two friends face said otherwise though. She rolled her eyes and gestured for the cup of water on the tray, taking a long drink as Jed held up the straw for her. “Tough crowd. You almost die one time and suddenly all your friends lose their sense of humor.”_

_“Pen..”_

_“I’m kidding,” She settled further into the hospital bed, reaching for the hands of both her friends. “No more high-speed chases and_ definitely, _no more Fast and Furious for research.”_

_…_

Two more days passed before Penelope saw Josie again and this time she didn’t have to drive all the way to campus to ‘run into her’. Penelope had been working at her computer for two hours when Josie texted her to meet up for lunch (and probably a quickie). They met halfway at the Grill, having a surprisingly good chat over burgers and fries. Josie talked about how she only had a few more weeks left for the semester while Penelope talked about how ‘booming car sales has been’.

And then they were in the backseat of Penelope’s Jeep, half naked and breathing heavily. Josie was straddling Penelope, her forehead resting against the girl’s shoulder as she caught her breath. Penelope pulled her fingers out from Josie, causing her to gasp at the loss. The darker girl pulled back enough to make eye contact with Josie so she could watch as Penelope sucked her fingers cleaned.

The brunette gulped at the sight and lunged forward for another kiss that Penelope happily returned. “Does this count as a second date?” Josie whispered against her lips. Penelope kissed her again, softly before responding. “Best second date I’ve ever had.”

Josie pulled back, her hands resting against the sides of Penelope’s neck. The darker haired girl did her best to not let her eyes wonder from Josie’s considering the fact that the girl was topless in her lap. She rubbed small circles into the small of the brunette’s back with one hand while the other rested on her thigh.

“How about a third one?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mostly filler, sorry about that! I've been debating between finding a balance on what to focus on the story on and decided to focus more on the posie relationship bc fok a plot.


	5. Chapter 5

Penelope was nervous. As hell. The only thing she could find solace in was the fact that she knew she looked good in a bikini. For their third date, she planned for them to visit the lake. Penelope called in a favor with her ‘watersports guy’ and reserved a slot for wakeboarding. Josie didn’t know that part at least, all she knew was that they were going to the lake for the afternoon then back to the house for a home cooked meal (and dessert). As she packed her bag for the day, going through the mental checklist for ensure she didn’t miss anything, she realized something. 

She really liked Josie. Maybe a bit more than she would’ve liked. She liked the way her eyes became really narrow when she was amused, the way her laugh burst out of her chest as if she just couldn’t hold it in; her genuine laugh too, not the one you’d make when you’re making small talk with a stranger. She was enamored by everything that girl was. Don’t get her started on the noises she makes in bed or the way her hands become frantic with desire when Penelope teases her just a bit too much. 

She zipped the bag shut and slung it over her shoulder, dispelling anymore thoughts about Josie. She wouldn’t let herself get too wrapped up now, Hope’s words lingered in the back of her mind. One of their warehouses where they stored up extra cars had been uncovered and contained under police custody. None of Penelope’s team was present at the time of the siege but some people she grew up with and worked under were there. Josh, a guy that was practically blood to Penelope when she lived with Marcel was there. He had been going over plans for obtaining a new warehouse that was closer to the water somewhere in New York when the police burst through the doors. They tackled him to the ground so hard that the air left his lungs and he broke his nose on the cement floor. 

“Penelope.” Hope pulled her out of her thoughts. “I’m going to need your decision by the end of today. Either you do it or I do. You know how big it would be for us if you could get inside info.” She was right. It seemed like every hour that passed, the idea became more rational. But the second Penelope would look into Josie’s eyes and see her smile, it went out the window. 

“You will do no such thing. If I see you anywhere near her, we’re going to have more than just words. Don’t think I won’t hesitate to put you in your place, Hope.” Penelope walked out the door and slid into the seat of her Jeep after that. The unsettling feeling didn’t sit well with her, she didn’t like to fight with Hope. But she didn’t want to risk anything at the moment. There was no reason to. Sure, their warehouse was taken and Josh was arrested. But they had a good lawyer on their side. They bailed Josh out the second it was posted and with the expertise that Camille had, he would get off with probation or community service at the most.

The drive over to Josie’s was brief. Penelope opted to listen to music the entire way, not allowing herself any time to think about work. Her hands had stopped shaking from nerves sometime ago, allowing her to knock on Josie’s door with confidence. It swung open immediately and Penelope felt her jaw drop. Josie wore some short shorts that showed off her legs, an off the shoulder tee which exposed the strap of her bikini and her hair was done up. Somehow in even just regular clothes, she looked amazing. 

“You look hot.” Josie said, letting her eyes roam generously over Penelope’s body, making her grin. She only wore a black ribbed tank top with denim shorts, but she made sure they were as form fitting as possible. “So do you.” The taller girl leaned in for a kiss that Penelope returned happily before reaching over for her bag and locking the door behind her. Penelope took her bags from her, one for the lake and one for overnight, because that was the polite thing to do (definitely not to show off or anything) and tossed it into the truck.

During the drive they talked more about their lives. Penelope did her best to tell Josie how work was going without actually telling her the details. Josie ranted about a girl in her class that just loved to question any points she would bring up in discussion. They came to the conclusion that hands will be thrown if Penelope ever saw her in person. For the most part, it was nice. It only took ten minutes into the drive for Josie to reach over casually and take the hand Penelope rested on the gearshift in her own, giving it a squeeze. Conversation continued to flow easily until they pulled into the parking lot by the lake. Ian, her watersports guy, was already waiting by the dock in his boat. 

Josie’s eyes widened at first glance, quickly looking around the lake for other occupants. “That’s not for us, right?” Penelope chuckled, bringing Josie’s hands up to her lips to press a quick kiss to it. “How presumptuous of you. But yes, it is. We’re wakeboarding.” Her eyes only widened more.

“I suck at sports as is. I don’t know how well I’ll fare when it’s in the water, Pen.” The sound of her nickname leaving Josie’s lips was like a shot of confidence straight to the heart. She squeezed Josie’s hand one more time before slipping out of the car. “You’ll be fine.” 

Thankfully, the brunette didn’t put up a fight walking over to the boat. Penelope greeted Ian and introduced Josie who clung to Penelope like a koala the second she mustered up enough courage to let her foot leave the dock and step onto the boat. The next ten minutes while Ian started up the boat and handed out life vests consisted of Penelope calming Josie down with soothing words and touches. When words of affirmation failed her, she resorted to the last trick in her book. 

“Let’s make a bet. Whoever manages to stay upright on the board longest, gets free reign in bed tonight. Whatever they want.” 

Josie volunteered to go first. 

Her determination was evident in the intense furrow of her brow after she managed to get on the board. The knuckles of her hand were white and she was chewing on her lip with such intensity that Penelope was scared she’d bite right through it. But to her surprise, Josie managed to stay upright for almost ten minutes. Penelope had to hand it to her, when Josie wanted something, she was determined to get it. 

As she took Penelope’s hand and pulled herself back into the boat, Josie kissed Penelope hard, almost making her fall over in the process. “Can’t wait to top you tonight, babe.” She whispered breathily in her ear and Penelope’s knees wobbled. 

But she wasn’t going to lose, no. She had her eye on the prize and she was ready to claim it. With her jaw set, she gripped the rope like her life depended on it and went into the water. The board was slippery and hard to get her footing on initially. She probably should’ve done some research before this. Giving him the thumbs up, Ian started up the boat again and Penelope watched as the rope began to tighten. She managed to at least stand up on the board for a solid thirty seconds before making the mistake of glancing up. Josie sat at the back, her wet hair released from the ponytail it once was in. Nervous eyes flickered up at Ian who thankfully wasn’t looking because Penelope was about to lose her shit. Josie’s body was facing Penelope when she shrugged off one strap of her bikini and tugged it down low enough to flash the other girl. 

All strength left Penelope at that moment and the next thing she knew, she was upside down and had a mouthful of water. She wiped her face when she resurfaced, coughing up as much liquid as she could just as the boat rounded around next to Penelope. She was face to face with Josie now, chin resting atop of her crossed arms. “I like wakeboarding.” 

Penelope rolled her eyes and took the hand that was extended out to her to get back into the boat. “You’re a cheat, you know that?”

“Aw, don’t be a sore loser now. It doesn’t look good on anyone. Not even someone as cute as you.” Still, the pout remained until Josie draped a towel around her shoulders and kissed it away. “I want to go again!”

++

After almost two hours on the water, Ian took the three of them back to the dock so they could have a small lunch Penelope packed. Considering that dinner would be pretty heavy, lunch consisted of sandwiches, fruit, veggies and hummus, and of course drinks. They laid a large picnic blanket in the shade of a tree and started eating. 

“I think it’s safe to say that while land sports don’t suit you, you can always consider a career in the water.” Penelope held up a carrot dipped in hummus that Josie happily took into her mouth. “I think it was more of the idea of topping you being too much to pass up.” Penelope choked on her water at the girl’s honesty. A sly grin lined Josie’s lips and Penelope watched with laser focus as they wrapped around a bite of sandwich.The sight was a shot of arousal straight through her body. A brief image of those lips being wrapped around something else flashed through her mind. 

Penelope gulped. It was going to be a long day. 

“If I had known all it took to get you to do something was sexual favors, my life would’ve been a lot easier.” 

“Oh please, I had to make you work for it first. I don’t necessarily have the time to waste.” Penelope nodded, shifting so she could lay on her back with her head resting in Josie’s lap. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Josie fingers buried themselves in her hair, lightly dragging her nails along her scalp in a slow motion. “You’re going to make me fall asleep if you keep this up, Jojo.” Josie huffed a breath, amused but her hand didn’t stop. “Maybe you should. You’re going to need your energy for later, I hope you didn’t plan on getting any sleep tonight.” That forced her eyes wide open. Josie watched her with amusement, her eyes crinkling the way they always did but there was still the hint of exhaustion from being in the sun. She moved up to a sitting position to observe their picnic laid out in front of them. They had finished most of the food with the exception of a few vegetables and fruits left over.

“How about we go back to my place for a nap before dinner? That way we _both_ can be rested up for later, and I don't know about you, but I'd kill for a shower." Josie responded with a quick kiss to her cheek and began packing up the food. "Sounds amazing." They got the rest of the picnic along with their other things packed away quickly. Penelope had said her goodbyes to Ian along with the promise to keep a look out for a GTR as long as she could have access to the boat for wakeboarding. Josie seemed to like it more than she let on. Exhaustion from their afternoon quickly set in for Josie during the car ride. The second they got on the road, Penelope glanced over to ask a question onto to see the girl had nodded off. 

Penelope made sure to drive extra careful on the way home. 

If it were up to Penelope, she would've had Josie sleep until dinner time. But once they arrived back at the house and Penelope opened the passenger door to carry her up, Josie's eyes fluttered open. "Are we back already?" Penelope smirked at her, clicking the release on her seatbelt. "Lotta talk about _me_ getting enough sleep when you were the one who dozed off the second we pulled out of the parking lot. Do you want me to carry you up?" Josie shook her head, pushing Penelope back just a bit so she could slide off the seat. "No, I'm okay."

"I got the stuff, you can get showered first. I'll be right up." The brunette gave her an appreciative nod before disappearing through the garage doors. Penelope lined all the bangs on her arms and shuffled through the door hastily. She practically threw all the things back where they belonged just so she wouldn't miss Josie in the shower. Thankfully she had overcompensated because once the picnic things were put away and she had darted upstairs, Josie had just turned the water on. She stripped off her clothes, instinctively sighing at the relief it brought and slid open the shower door. It was more than big enough to accommodate the two of them plus other.. activities. Josie's back was to her as she sauntered up to press her chest against her, arms encircling the girls waist. She lined kisses along her neck, grinning when Josie lolled her head back to rest against Penelope's shoulder, encouraging her to continue. "Penelope..."

"You get me later, but I get you now. Let me take care of you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all. I wasn't planning on posting a chapter for this fic for a while because I wanted to focus more on my other one, but with everything going on right now I needed a distraction and I figured you all could use one too. I live in the States (sadly) and being in the news because of something so terrible is so sickening. You would think by now people would be better and DO better. But no, people still suck and the government sucks and the justice system is absolute trash. Not to mention being a fan of a ship for a show that does so little for it's 'diverse' characters is hard and very discouraging. So! Hence the fluff. Bit of a short one and I apologize, but next chapter will definitely be worth it I promise. I also apologize if the format seems weird? I usually write on the Pages app on macOS but recently just got a PC so I switched to Google Docs. As always thank you for reading, comments and criticism is always welcome or if you ever just want to chat :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright kiddos, bit of a longer one. Buckle up because all aboard the thirst train to sIN CITY BABYYY. Grab your waters. Grab your fans or an ice pack because ya'll might need it. Tags have been updated.
> 
> It's a doozy. I don't think I'll be making eye contact with anyone for at least a day.

“Penelope..” 

_ Unf.  _ How did she ever live a life before the way Josie moaned her name from that beautiful mouth? Almost as if it were on command, a spike of arousal shot straight through her and more and more, Penelope is  _ so  _ glad that all rooms in the house are soundproofed. Her hands slid up from Josie’s waist to cup the swell of breasts, thumbs brushing lightly against her hardening nipples.  _ God, her skin is so soft.  _ She watched as Josie visibly bit back a groan by sinking pearly white teeth into her bottom lip.  _ None of that.  _ A hand left her chest to wrap around the underside of her jaw to free the girl’s lip with a tug and directed her face to Penelope’s. 

“No,” She clicked her tongue, her infamous smirk lining her lips as she spoke. “I want to hear you. I want to hear the sounds you make when I fuck you.”

Immediately she saw Josie’s eyes darken with lust. “You’re gonna get it later.” Josie bit out, but Penelope knew she wanted this just as much as her. Josie’s expression quickly changed once Penelope slipped a hand between her legs, hesitating for just a moment before sliding further down. Josie’s ragged breath hitched once she began to work her fingers through her slick folds, teasingly. 

“Hm? I’m sorry, could you speak up?” Penelope nosed her way to the underside of Josie’s jaw and grazed her teeth against the skin there, her other hand having since returned to it’s previous place on the girl’s chest. A slow, tentative drag of her tongue from the base of her neck to the back of her ear earned her another quiet moan. She began sucking kisses along her jaw while the hand down below started to gain momentum on the sensitive bud between Josie’s legs. The other stayed on her chest, alternating between rolling the soft pink of her nipple and squeezing her breast.

“Please..” Josie whimpered, her thighs pressing together to trap Penelope’s hand between them in search for more.

“Please what? You have to tell me what you want.” Using her feet, she stepped further between Josie’s legs so she could push them further apart. Her fingers slowed to a lazy pace, much to Josie’s dismay who grabbed Penelope’s hand and began rubbing herself. 

“I swear, Penelope. Stop the teasing and just get  _ inside  _ me.” Penelope slipped her hands away from Josie to spin the girl around and press her back against the cold tile of the shower. Both hands moved to pin Josie’s next to her head, lips just hovering above each other. “Impatient now, are we?” Their lips met in a heated kiss that Josie was the first to deepen. She tilted her head to the side for a better angle, letting their tongues brush against each other in languid strokes. The kiss broke seconds later so Penelope could leave a wet trail starting from the valley of her breasts all the way down to where she stopped at her navel. 

Green eyes flickered up to meet Josie’s smoldering gaze, her once chocolate brown orbs were now almost black. She kept the eye contact when she went lower until her lips made contact with Josie’s clit. Then she went to work. 

One hand went behind Josie’s thigh to hike the leg over her shoulder before settling both hands on the globes of her ass. Penelope was no stranger to a position like this so she knew the best way to hold a girl up when her legs inevitably gave out on her. She gave Josie’s butt an encouraging squeeze while a pink tongue darted out to lick up the girl’s wet slit. Josie’s body responded at once, her hips bucking and Penelope groaned against her. The taste of Josie was just  _ so sweet  _ on her tongue. She could spend hours just eating her out.

“God… Pen..  _ Fuck. More. _ ” Her licks started out soft, tentative and teasing. Just to see what kind of reactions from which spots she could get out of the girl. Once a frantic hand buried itself in Penelope’s dark curls and tugged aggressively, her licks became stronger. She slid her tongue down to prod teasingly at the girl’s entrance before settling back up at her clit. 

Firm lips wrapped around the sensitive bud while one finger slowly slid into her. Her thrusts started off slow in order to relax Josie enough so she could slip another finger in. Penelope hummed at the feeling of finally being enveloped in Josie’s wet heat, her pussy wrapped tightly around her fingers. Josie’s body tensed for a split second at the new intrusion mixed with the vibration from Penelope’s mouth. A mere hiccup because a moment later, her hips began rolling in tandem with her thrusts, essentially letting her ride Penelope’s face and fingers at the same time. “A-Ah.. Mhm.” Breathy pants echoed off the walls of the shower that only drove Penelope to quicken the pace of her tongue and fingers. It wasn’t long after Penelope curled her fingers and picked up the speed of her thrusts to the point where the bathroom was filled with Josie’s screams and the wet smack of skin against skin that she came. 

Penelope watched her with fascination, the way her brows were knitted tightly together, face scrunched up and mouth open in the shape of a little ‘o’. Seeing her come was a thing of art. She let Josie set the pace at which she rode out her orgasm. During their previous experiences in learning each other’s bodies, she learned that Josie was  _ very _ sensitive after climaxing. At one point before she was desperately pushing her head away when Penelope wanted to keep going, ‘ _ I just can’t.. Oh my god.’  _

Her fingers came to a stop once she felt Josie’s fingers relax and untangle themselves from her dark curls. Pressing one last kiss and slipping her fingers out slowly, she stood up back to her full height. The light pops and tension from her knees painfully reminded her that while appealing and hot, shower sex isn’t very practical. Josie pulled her into a rough kiss at once, her tongue slipping past her lips to lick into her mouth. Penelope smiled into it, reveling in the satisfied hum that the brunette let out upon tasting herself. 

“You’re.. too much, Penelope Park.”

++

The rest of their time in the shower was spent actually showering now that  _ other  _ things were out of the way. They each took turns washing each other's backs, hair and bodies, only letting their hands drift to other places just a handful of times. Kisses were shared every time they’d make eye contact in its place instead and if the water hadn’t run cold, they probably would’ve stayed in there for another hour or two. 

Penelope watched with amusement when Josie took one step out of the shower and nearly fell over because she claimed with a deep blush on her cheeks, “My legs are jelly still..” She took that as an invitation to scoop Josie up in her arms bridal style and set her on the edge of the bed. They both decided to get dressed separately otherwise they would’ve gotten water all over Penelope’s sheets. There were still a few hours to kill before dinner and the idea of a nap after their little shower tryst was extremely tempting. 

Little did she know though, the decision had already been made when she walked back into the main bedroom to see Josie curled up on her side half dressed in one of Penelope’s oversized T-shirts, the pillow Penelope used hugged close to her chest. 

_ Well. Prepping dinner won’t hurt. _

_ ++ _

Upon making her way downstairs, she breathed out a sigh of relief when she was fortunately greeted with a still empty kitchen. First, she began unloading the ingredients that were purchased the day before to prep. Steak, vegetables, rice, and the best bottle of wine Penelope could find. Dessert consisted of strawberry cheesecake, some fruit and a can of whipped cream (that could also be used in other ways). 

Realistically they could’ve just gone out to a restaurant for a simple meal like this and it would’ve been way less time and effort. But tonight was a rare occasion in which all the roommates would be out. Hope was at Landon's, MG most likely with Lizzie and Jed somewhere downtown, probably bar hopping with some friends. 

Forty minutes later, the vegetables were washed, cut and seasoned along with the steak, rice was cooking in the pot and the cheesecake ready and waiting to be eaten in the fridge. She washed her hands in the sink and dried them on the nearest towel before turning around just in time to see Josie descend down the stairs. She was still rubbing the sleep from her eyes, hair mussed from sleep but haphazardly pulled back into a bun in a way that made her look impossibly more endearing. 

“I thought we were  _ both  _ going to nap. Color me surprised when I woke up to an empty bed.” Josie made a beeline straight for Penelope, pressing her back up against the counter with her arms bracketing either side. Penelope smirked at her, a hand reaching up to to carefully pluck a stray eyelash on her cheek. 

She held it out to her on her index finger. “Make a wish.” Curious green eyes watched Josie’s features as she closed her eyes, eyebrows only knitting together just slightly before relaxing and blowing the lash away. “When’s dinner?”

“Whenever you’d like,” A pair of arms snaked around the brunette’s shoulders to pull her down for a chaste kiss. “Everything’s practically ready, just need to grill up the steaks and pour the wine. Are you hungry now?” The taller girl hummed, leaning in to press a series of kisses to her lips before spreading them to her cheek and under her jaw. Penelope angled her head to the side, allowing Josie more access. “We’re in the kitchen. This isn’t very sanitary.”

Josie smirked against her skin, lips retreating for just a second to look her in the eye before leaning back in to suck a deep bruise right on the side of her neck. 

That earned her a soft moan.

She’s going to get a lot of shit for  _ that _ from her friends tomorrow. “If I remember correctly,” Josie said, her voice so low and sultry that Penelope wasn’t ashamed to admit that it turned her on  _ immensely. _

“You were the one to ask me to take you right here not too long ago.” 

Fuck. 

Her mind short circuited at the vivid memory from that day at the pool party. Now the roles had changed, Penelope was the one flustered and at a loss for words. Luckily, Josie didn’t seem to mind because her hands slid to the back of her thighs and hoisted Penelope up onto the counter in an impressive show of strength.

_ That  _ turned her on too, damn. It was pitiful how desperately she felt the need to squeeze her legs together, anything to seek some type of relief. 

“Jojo..” The girl’s name left her lips breathily. Finally, Josie tore her lips away from littering her neck with bruises to kiss her again. The messy kiss was deepened, more of a mix of teeth and tongues than anything. Eventually, Josie’s hand slipped past the waistband of her shorts, leaving a white hot trail in its wake and put those glorious fingers to work on bringing her over the edge (for the first time that night). 

Desperate moans of  _ please _ and  _ harder _ spilled from her lips when two fingers curled upwards and thrusted into her at such an agonizing pace that Penelope felt like she was going to explode.

“Fuck.. How are you.. so good at this..” She whimpered into the girl's mouth. 

The palms of her hands slapped onto the countertop behind her while her legs wrapped around Josie’s waist in order to use it as leverage, Josie’s body falling forward with hers. Her hips canted up to meet each of her thrusts, using the leverage of the counter beneath her sweaty hands and Josie to aid in fucking herself on the girl’s fingers. Then, the brunette’s thumb joined the mix to rub tight circles over her clit and Penelope felt the pressure that had been steadily building between her legs grow exponentially until finally, she hit her peak.

She came hard, one arm wrapped securely around Josie’s shoulders to hold her tight against her body, eyes clamped shut and a muted cry to the ceiling. She needed an anchor in that moment and Josie was it. Their movements slowed considerably but remained in sync with one another in order to let Penelope ride out her orgasm. 

At the flip of a switch, Penelope watched with hooded eyes as Josie went from the dominant and cocky lover that just finished having her way with her to the same shy and nervous Josie she first met at the university coffee shop. 

With the exception of the smug grin that was now plastered on her face, of course. 

“Fuck off..” She breathed, still trying to clear her mind of the post-coital haze. But her words held no bite and the brunette just  _ knew _ it too if the sweet kiss she gave her meant anything. 

“No more. The rest of the house can never know we just fucked on the kitchen counter. I’ll never hear the end of it.” 

++

Two more times. 

They ended up having sex two more times on the kitchen counter after that. The first time happened because Josie held up a half eaten grilled vegetable to her, traces of where the other half went evident on the corner of her lips. She leaned in to kiss the mess away which only led to a more heated kiss and the next thing she knew,  _ Josie  _ was on the counter with Penelope’s head buried between creamy white thighs. 

The second time happened simply because Penelope couldn’t (and didn’t wish to) keep it in her pants. She was practically a teenage boy at the height of puberty around Josie. The brunette was at the sink washing dishes when a poorly angled spoon sprayed water all over her white and  _ very thin  _ shirt. She looked over at Josie’s adorable pout, then to the front of her shirt that was now dripping with bubbles and water. Wordlessly, she helped the girl peel the shirt up over her head. 

Honestly? It was Josie’s fault for not wearing a bra in the first place.

“Okay..” Josie huffed a breath out, exhausted from the two orgasms she was so generously given just now. Her legs gave out (again) the second her toes grazed the kitchen floor. Thankfully Penelope was there to steady her with strong hands on her hips and a satisfied smirk. “I’m definitely going to need to eat before we have sex again.” Right on cue, both of their stomachs growled loudly, making the girls laugh. She pressed a kiss to her cheek and let her go to fetch a new shirt.

Dinner goes off without a hitch. The steaks were seared to perfection and plated beautifully with the side dishes prepared. Having not realized just how hungry they both were, there were little to no distractions until all the food was finished. They still managed small talk and getting to know each other's interests, Josie telling her more about growing up with her father being a cop and the ups and downs of her relationship with Lizzie. 

“I think your friend MG is really good for her. Her last few relationships were just complete disasters.” Josie said once Penelope joined her at the table with slices of cheesecake and fruit. “Why is that?”

“Sebastian,” The brunette mumbled over a mouthful of cheesecake. The sight of it was just way too cute. “Her last boyfriend, was an asshole. He completely ghosted her and  _ moved towns  _ after they spent months getting to know each other and hooking up. Before him, she dated this college wrestler named Rafael. Not even Division 1, mind you. He was just a player. He hit on me every time he and Lizzie hung out at the house. It was so gross.” She winced at the thought and scooped another forkful of her cheesecake. 

“MG’s a great guy, probably the best that I’ve met. The two of them looked really cute together at the pool party,” Penelope offered in hopes that it’d make Josie feel better. “I’d keep an eye out for Hope though. I’m pretty sure she has a crush on Lizzie.” She mentioned nonchalantly as she dug into her own dessert. 

The shock on Josie’s face was priceless, her eyebrows shooting up to her hairline and eyes so wide that she was scared they were going to pop out. “What?!”

Penelope shrugged, standing up to bring their empty plates to the sink. “Don’t worry. I already gave her the talk to back off. Hope just can’t keep it in her pants.” 

“She’s not the only one..” The grumble was so quiet under Josie’s breath that Penelope almost missed it. “That’s funny to hear though because Lizzie _did_ mention to me that she thought Hope looked ‘ _way too_ _good in a bikini_ ’. I just hope she doesn’t mess up this potentially good thing with MG.” 

“What’s meant to be, will be. They’re all big kids now.” Penelope pressed a kiss to Josie’s shoulder, then another along the back of her neck after she brushed her hair to the side. What started out partly innocent on Penelope’s part escalated quickly. One moment, she had the upper hand as kisses were shared hastily against the dining table that only ended in them racing up the stairs to the bedroom after Penelope mumbled a quiet,  _ we’re not fucking on this too _ against Josie’s lips. 

  
  


Clothes littered the floor of the master bedroom, strewn in every which direction in their urgency. Skin met skin against the cool silk of Penelope’s bed sheets that quickly heated up once hands began wandering. It was in the blink of an eye that things changed again. Bodies shifted, drawers were opened and sounds of a buckle fastening. 

Then, her hands were frantically grasping for the hard metal of her headboard, squeezing so tightly that her fingers ached. But that was nothing compared to the ache between her legs.

“Fuckfuckfuck--!  _ Nhn-- _ ” Borderline pornographic moans spilled out of her mouth so easily that if she was in the right state of mind and not the sex induced haze, she might’ve been embarrassed. She could feel the familiar feeling of her orgasm creeping up on her, the build starting low in her core and gradually spreading to the rest of her body with every little touch. 

They took turns initially, exploring each other's bodies and seeing what kind of sounds they could draw out from one another until Josie whispered low and hot in her ear, “I believe I won a bet.”

That was how she found herself with her breasts pressed to the sheets, her lower half propped up on her knees and hands gripping the headboard for dear life as Josie pounded into her mercilessly from behind. “A-Almost..” She could tell Josie was nearing her own release by the slight stutter of her hips. While the long piece of silicone was buried deep inside of Penelope, a similar type of phallus was sheathed inside Josie on the other end of the harness, paired with a little piece that protruded out to rub her clit  _ just  _ right with each thrust. 

Penelope buried her face in the pillows, eyes shut tightly so she could focus all her energy on not completely passing out and on her release instead. Her body shook at the feeling of the toy thrusting in and out of her and at the sensation of blunt nails digging into her hips. Their bodies moved in tandem, each time Josie pulled back, Penelope moved forward and vice versa, the result ending in a special type of soreness she was  _ so _ ready for tomorrow morning. The room was filled with nothing but the sounds of their combined moans mixed with the obscene sounds of wet skin slapping against each other. 

“ _ Josie--!”  _ Penelope cried when a particular sharp snap of her hips caused her to see stars. The orgasm ripped through every inch of her harshly, the muscles of her body tensing, and fingers gripping the headboard so hard she was sure she heard the metal squeak. Now boneless, her body fell limp onto the bed with Josie following suit. The comforting weight of her pressing Penelope into the mattress felt more welcoming than it should’ve been. 

_ Maybe I should lose more often. _

“Am I too heavy?” Josie’s voice came quietly, the words muffled against the sweaty skin of her neck. Penelope smiled, turning her head to the side enough so she could see her. “Not at all.” They lay there for a little while longer before Josie got up to ease the toy out of her, unlatch the harness from her hips and toss it to the floor. She watched with tired eyes as Josie slid back under the sheets and curled into Penelope’s side, sated and spent. 

Once again, the sex vixen was gone and in her place was cute and cuddly Josie. 

_ Like she wasn’t just going to town on me a few minutes ago. _

Penelope was on her back now, one arm thrown over her own waist while the other was tucked under Josie’s head. “Wakeboarding, sex and dinner. You know how to take a girl out, Ms. Park.” She felt the girl smile against her arm and let out a chuckle.

“You should know that I do nothing half-assed.” 

“Remind me to thank you later for sucking at water sports.” Josie grinned. Penelope quirked a brow, challenging. “How do you know I didn’t lose on purpose?” 

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

++

Sleep came easily after that. Penelope dozed first, her body worn out more than Josie. 

She woke a few hours later though, deliciously sore all around with a specific dull ache between her legs. Josie was passed out next to her with her head buried in one of many fluffy pillows on the bed. She tore her eyes away from the soft skin of Josie’s back to the rest of the room. Clothes and pillows were thrown everywhere and the faint smell of sex lingered. Her eye caught on the hallway light that filtered in through the crack at the bottom of her door. 

Someone was home. 

As quietly as possible without waking the body next to her, she slipped out from the sheets and into a black tee and pair of boy shorts she found on the floor. 

Everyone was gathered at the dining table, hushed whispers exchanged fervently between the three friends. Hope and MG were huddled over a person sitting in one of the chairs who, she presumed to be Jed from the voice, effectively covering his body. 

“What the hell is going on?” Two pairs of worried eyes darted in her direction. She looked at them, confused as to why they were looking so haggard  _ and _ at home so late in the night. 

Then her eyes landed on the bloodied tissues next to a first aid kit. Her body stilled and before she knew it, her legs projected her over to the three of them. Jed looked up at her the best he could in his battered state, the same charming smile he always gave when he was in trouble was the only presentable feature on his face. “Yo.” 

Blood dripped down from some unknown source on his head, the hair on the left side of his head matted with what Penelope assumed to be more blood. One of his eyes was swollen shut while the other was well on it’s way too by the looks of the deep purple bruises that settled under them. His nose had to have been broken in at least two places and his lip was split. The rest of his body wasn’t any better. A tattered shirt was thrown along the back of his chair, exposing Penelope and the rest of them to the dark bruises that covered his ribs and chest. 

“What the  _ fuck  _ happened tonight?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First time writing smut! I went over the whole thing so many times I think I can recite it all from memory (but I still found errors each time?? That's what you get for trying to edit at 2am) I went back and forth between wanting to be INTENSE but also not being so graphic that I scare some people away lol. This isn't really a smut fic so I think I found an okay medium? Let me know what you guys think, and yes another cliffhanger because I just love anxiety. For readers of my other fic, it's coming! Just trying to make sure it's perfect and executed the way I want.
> 
> As always, I love hearing your guys' comments, concerns or if you just want to ramble. I've also been thinking about making a side blog on tumblr for my writing, what do you guys think?


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is that... *squints* PLOT??

“Is somebody going to explain why Jed is sitting at our dinner table looking like he just got put in a fucking meat grinder?” Penelope snarled at her two friends, anger quickly blurring her senses. Green eyes darted back and forth between Hope and MG, neither were willing to meet her gaze. They knew better to just back off and wait for Penelope to cool off when she was this angry. Too many times were they on the receiving end of her wrath than only ended in an embarrassing trip to the Bennett’s.

“ _Speak_ \--!” She hissed one last time. The lack of response from her friends was making her blood boil more. Did they really think they could hide something like this from her? Her mind went back to just a few moments ago when she first came downstairs, her friends were speaking in hushed whispers up until they saw her.

In their line of work, getting hurt wasn’t really a common occurrence. It wasn’t like they were getting in gang fights left and right, they stole cars and that was it. Sure, sometimes they would get caught by someone and hands were thrown. They never willingly fought to harm, just enough to disengage so they could make a break for it. Penelope made sure of that. She didn’t want to be someone that had blood on her hands anymore. On more than one occasion, Penelope has made it clear to her friends that she would do anything to protect them. In turn, it was made clear to the people that they dealt with that no one would get off scot free if they hurt her people. 

But _this._

No.

The brutality of Jed’s wounds weren’t made in some desperate attempt at self defense. They were too calculated. Too many injuries above the shoulder; his head and throat were the most damaged.

Penelope had seen this type of beating before.

The person that did this didn’t intend for him to live. They intended to kill him and likely play it off as something else. Her eyes trailed down to Jed’s hands; they were almost fine. A few cuts here and there but next to no defense wounds on his knuckles. The two rings of red that coated his wrists stood out like a blaring alarm.

And Penelope saw red.

“Pen..” 

“Give me a name and I’ll handle it.” 

“Penelope.” 

She broke free of the statue-like state that she had been in the second she stepped foot in the kitchen and made her way over to the trio. She stopped once she was close to Jed, her knees brushing against each other. With careful hands, she cupped the sides of his face and turned him over so she could evaluate his wounds. 

As always, despite the state he was in, Jed shot her a lopsided smile and Penelope instantly felt the anger dissipate. God. Jed looked like a mess and he still found a way to ease the air between everyone. The ever present goofball of the group. The guy who despite how much she tried not to, she had a soft spot for. Their eyes met and a sigh left Penelope’s lips. “Not gonna kiss me now, are ya?” Surprisingly, a chuckle left her lips.

“Not even on your deathbed, Jed.” A beat of hesitation. “Who did this to you?”

The tension was back then. She could see the apprehension in his eyes at her words and with a reluctant pinch of his cheeks, he sighed.

“Cops.” Her hands rested on her hips now, looking at him expectantly.

“Couple of the guys and I were out bar hopping. We were standing around on the street waiting to decide where to go next when a bunch of cops came up asking for trouble,” Jed said in between heavy breaths. Hope was dabbing away the blood that oozed from his head wound, causing Jed to wince. 

“We told them that we didn’t want any trouble but they weren’t having it. Next thing I know, I’m on the floor with my hands cuffed behind my back and a boot in my mouth.” 

Penelope squeezed her eyes shut as she took in Jed’s words. _Cops. Of course._ She was no stranger to encountering shitty cops that think they’re above the law and can do whatever they want. The city was filled with them. Growing up, she had to watch Marcel deal with them. The injustice that always followed after. 

“Tell her the rest, Jed.” MG said quietly as he tossed away the bloodied gauze. Penelope watched him carefully. His movements were neurotic and rushed, like he wasn’t really sure what to do with himself. Her eyes went back to Jed, his body language betraying the nonchalant expression he so desperately tried to keep on his face.

“That’s not necessary,” He started but Hope cut him off when she threw a towel on the table. 

“Yes it is!” She snapped, furious blue eyes shooting up to meet Penelope’s. She took one daring step towards her that almost made Penelope take a step back if her stubbornness didn’t overpower her logic. _Stand your ground and take the hit, it’ll make people respect you more than if you flinch and show weakness_ , Marcel told her once.

“You want to know which cops did it, Park?” Hope said as she leaned dangerously close to Penelope’s face. Instinctively, Penelope clenched her jaw and straightened up, trying her best to take advantage of the half inch advantage she had over the redhead.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see MG shuffle over to wedge himself between the two. He clasped his hands on Hope’s shoulders and steered her back while Penelope stayed stuck in her spot.

“Why don’t you go upstairs and ask your little plaything how her daddy’s shift went tonight! Ask her if her father takes pride in beating up innocent people on the street for no reason! Let _go_ of me Milton! Bet you wished you listened to me now, didn’t you?!” 

Penelope froze. “What?”

She could vaguely make out the condescending smile that lined Hope’s lips at her shock. 

She turned to look at Jed, searching his eyes for any reason to believe that Hope was lying. 

There wasn’t.

Once more, she shut her eyes and raked her hands over her face. _Of course._ What were the fucking chances? But also, why was she not surprised? She knew it herself that the entire police department was corrupt.

Maybe she just hoped that Josie’s dad was the one exception.

“Fuck.. Jed, I’m--” 

“Oh my god what happened?” A voice behind her spoke up. 

Penelope whirled around to see Josie standing there in one of her robes, her hair pulled back messily in a bun at the top of her head. If she wasn’t so worried about Josie walking in on a conversation that she _definitely_ wasn’t supposed to hear, she would’ve found the sight heartwarming. 

Josie immediately tried to rush over to Jed who still sat there with a hand pressing a towel to his head and an ice pack to his eye. Penelope was quicker though, she intercepted Josie and held the girl back by placing her hands on the girl’s hips. 

“Nothing, Josie. He’s going to be fine, just go back upstairs okay? I’ll be there in a minute.” Josie looked at her incredulously and shook her head.

“Are you kidding? He’s bleeding from his freakin’ _head,_ Penelope. I--”

“We’ve got it covered, okay? He was in an accident. Don’t worry, just go.” 

But Josie wasn’t having any of it. She pushed Penelope’s hands away and walked around her. “I know a thing or two about treating wounds. I spent two summers volunteering at the hospital and shadowing surgeons. Not to mention, my dad’s a cop so I know a thing or two about patching people up.” At the mention of her father, Penelope’s eyes flickered up to meet her friends’. An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of her gut, making Penelope feel antsy. She kept clenching and unclenching her hands while shuffling from one foot to the other. 

Like a hawk, she watched as Josie gently pried Jed’s hands away from his head and looked over the damage. Her expertise showed through her movements, the fluidity and precision they held. She talked quietly to Jed each time she moved to different injury or touched him. Her hands were gentle but firm, like she knew just how to make him calm while also reassuring him that she knew what she was doing at the same time. 

Silence fell over the group then, the only sound that echoed throughout the room were Josie’s quiet whispers and the ripping open of a package. Penelope couldn’t stop staring at Josie as she patched up Jed and Hope wouldn’t stop staring at Penelope. She was sure she’d find two holes burned into the side of her face in the morning. 

“Your head is going to need stitches. We can glue it for now but it would be ten times better if we just went to the ER now. You could have internal bleeding and we won’t be able to know for sure without a trip to the hospital.” Josie said to the group once she finished. Most of the blood had been cleaned off and the minor cuts were tended to. The swelling on Jed’s face only worsened as time progressed and every time he adjusted himself, he’d wince. 

Penelope felt every one. 

“We’ll take him.” MG finally spoke. He gave Josie an appreciative smile and nudged Hope. “Let’s go.” 

Wordlessly, the two friends settled themselves on either side of Jed and helped him up. All Penelope could do was watch. Watch as her friends carried away Jed as he groaned in pain with every step they took. 

“Where are your keys? I can drive.” Josie said to Penelope as she rounded the island to wash her hands at the sink. 

Penelope shook her head. “We’re not going.” Her friends weren’t going to a regular hospital anyways, they were going to the Bennett’s. And Josie _really_ couldn’t go there. 

“You’re joking, right? Your friend’s hurt and he needs your support. I know you want to go so let’s go.” Josie walked into her view and gestured for her to follow when she turned towards the stairs.

The raven haired girl caught her by the wrist before she could make it there. She needed an excuse fast.

“He’s going to be knocked out on meds the second they admit him. I’ll go first thing in the morning. Do you want me to take you home?”

Surprise flickered across the brunette’s features and she furrowed her brow at her. “What?”

Penelope shrugged. “I’m assuming you’re gonna want to go home, am I wrong? You just walked in on my roommate looking like a bloody pulp, that’s not necessarily something that makes you want to spend the night.” 

She was ready for Josie to scream and run away the second she set eyes on Jed, but she surprised her. Instead, she offered to help. She patched him up the best she could without hesitating, a guy that she barely knew! Hell, she barely even knew Penelope at this point. All they were to each other were fuck buddies essentially. She was in no way obligated to help but she did. Who does that? Who just _cares_ so easily?

“I’m not going anywhere, Pen. I don’t scare that easily.” Josie squeezed her hand reassuringly but Penelope found no comfort in it. Her mind was too busy thinking about what she had to do now. What she should’ve done a while ago, actually. 

Hope was right, now more than ever. What started off as a suggestion to help them gain an edge up in their business is now so much more. If she was able to get on the inside of the _Chief of Police_ , the possibilities of what she could do were endless. They would be untouchable. 

_Blackmail is one of the greatest pastimes of family life after all, Penelope._

“That’s good to know.” was all Penelope managed to get out as she allowed herself to be tugged upstairs. 

“Let’s get back to bed, okay?” 

“ ‘Kay.” 

She wasn’t going to be getting any sleep that night. Not when a plan was formulating in her mind. It needed to be perfect, she couldn’t fuck this one up. Big change was to be made. The guilt that tugged at her was far from her mind though. Guilt and fear of losing what she had built with Josie in such a short amount of time so quickly. But it was nothing compared to the anger she felt in her bones. 

No.

She wanted revenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi hello my lovely readers! I'm sorry that it took me so long to get this chapter out, a lot has been going on in my personal life therefore leading to that little bit of angsty intro. This one's short but I wanted to get something out to you guys asap! And by asap I mean that I rushed posting this after only doing minor edits and will be going over it later!
> 
> Pleeasseee let me know your thoughts on this? Did you see this coming? Are ya scurred about what's next to come? Or what were your guesses as to what happened to our dear ol' Jed? 
> 
> I love reading and replying to your guys' comments. It makes my day :)
> 
> I've also posted a one shot recently! If you can, please check it out and lmk what you guys think of it!


	8. Chapter 8

“How is he?” 

Tired blue eyes shot up to meet Penelope’s and immediately narrowed. Her and Hope hadn’t spoken much since her little outburst the night before and the tension was obviously putting a strain on things even more. Penelope sighed heavily and walked over to sit in the chair on the other side of Jed’s hospital bed. She gave the thing a onceover, it looked brand new and still had the distinct smell of anesthetic wafting off of it. She wondered if the Bennett’s stole it or actually bought it. 

“Been in and out of sleep. The pain meds they shot him up with really kicked in.” Hope finally said as she focused her attention back to the notepad in her lap. Her feet were propped up on the edge of the bed while she leaned back in the seat comfortably. From the dark circles under her eyes and the lack of fight in her tone, Penelope knew she was exhausted from lack of sleep. 

“Exhausting yourself isn’t going to make him get better any faster, Hope.” Penelope held her gaze then despite how much she wanted to just cave and end the stupid tiff between them. The stubborn part of her always won.

Hope said nothing to that, she just kept on scribbling. 

Penelope turned her attention to Jed then and her gaze softened. The swelling had taken over most of his face, almost making him unrecognizable. But the second he opened his eyes and smiled that stupid grin, she would always be able to pick him out of a crowd of millions with ease. The guy could be a dingus, sure, but he truly had a heart of gold. Sure, he did have a temper at times but who wouldn’t? When you’re dealt a shitty hand like they were, you tend to be a bit resentful. 

Penelope spent hours racking her brain to try and figure out the true cause of the fight. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe Jed’s story, but she needed to cover her bases before she went to the police department guns blazing. Were his friends doing something stupid? Was he? Did they provoke the police? What could’ve possibly gone down to have caused a beating as brutal as this?

She wanted so badly for it to not have been just another senseless beating by the police. She did. 

But all the signs seemed to point that way.

And the fact that it was Josie’s dad only made her stomach churn even more. 

The police did a good job on covering up the incident. Penelope had to scour the web with multiple programs created by MG to find the single article written on the incident. It was hard to avoid the truth when their headshots were staring back at her.

Alaric Saltzman.

Matthew Donovan. 

Tyler Lockwood.

After they figured out their names and faces, MG made quick work on figuring out more personal information on the three of them. Where they lived, where they went to high school, blood types, spouses; the whole nine yards. Now they just needed the framework for their plan.

“What’ll you do about Josie?” Hope asked quietly. The sketchbook laid in her lap now, forgotten as her blue eyes were focused on Penelope. She looked genuinely curious and if things weren’t so tense between the two, Penelope would’ve made a joke about the shift in mood. 

“I’ll do what I have to.” She replied quietly. 

Penelope dropped Josie off early that morning but not without a bruising kiss that lingered much too long. That was important. As much as it didn’t feel right for her to stay the night, she was still happy that she did. But she couldn’t enjoy the way Josie’s cheek felt against her collarbone as the other girl drifted off to sleep. Her mind was still racing.

Jed.

Police.

Josie’s dad.

Josie.

Payback. 

Revenge filled her veins and it just felt so..  _ Wrong _ , to be cuddled up next to Josie in that moment. .

So she packed up every little feeling she had for Josie into a box and hid it away because she couldn’t allow herself to be blinded by them. Packed up the butterflies that she got every time Josie gave her that shy smile, or the way her face would flush after a particularly heated kiss. 

Family always came first no matter what. 

At least that’s what she’ll keep telling herself in the weak moments. 

She threw herself back into work mode Penelope. Car thief Penelope, the one that took no shit from anyone and got the job done no matter the cost. The one Marcel taught to never shy away from difficult decisions because leaders don’t get to do that. They got shit done. 

“And what is that exactly?” Hope challenged her and it made a muscle in Penelope’s jaw twitch.

“What do you fucking think?” Penelope retorted back. “I’ll get an in, get her dad to trust me, figure out all the shit that we need on the police department, and end them. End of story.” 

A smirk tugged at Hope’s lips and she leaned across the bed, her chin resting in her palms. “And just  _ how  _ will you get that in?”

Penelope hesitated then. She knew what Hope was doing, it was something they did for each other countless times.

Anytime that there was even the slightest inkling that someone wasn’t giving their hundred percent on a job, the other would sit them down and press the issue. 

_ Make them tell you the plan. _

_ Make them say what they had to do out loud.  _

_ Drill the idea into their brains because there was no room for doubt when their asses were at stake.  _

It always seemed like a little overkill for  _ car heists _ , but it applied to things now more than ever. 

The logical part of her appreciated what Hope was doing because she needed it. If the plan wasn’t drilled into her mind like it needed to be, there was a chance she would fuck things up. 

But the other part just really wanted to deck her in the face.

“I’ll continue the relationship with Josie. Gain her trust, make Josie fall in love with me, whatever. Best way to get an in to the family. She’ll want to bring me around them more, I’ll strike a friendship with Alaric to gain his trust, and when he least expects it, I’ll ruin him.” 

Somehow, Penelope managed to smirk at that. 

“Easy.” 

++

A day and a half passed before Jed was fully conscious again. He claimed that the drugs they fed him was a new batch from the black market, therefore taking him out of commission for that long otherwise he would have woken up much sooner. 

Everyone knew he was lying but humoured him anyways. 

Josie texted her periodically throughout the day to check on both her and Jed. The amount of care that the girl had for both of them made Penelope’s heart do backflips, but she didn’t allow herself to enjoy it too much. Despite the fact that she needed to cut herself off emotionally from Josie as much as possible, their interactions still stayed the same. Josie would respond to her messages with hearts and one too many emojis while Penelope kept up the flirtatious banter. 

After all, she still needed to be on her good side. 

It still fucked with her head though.

Once Jed was conscious enough, the three of them helped set him up in his room back at their house. He was given strict instructions from the doctor to be on bed rest and to not over exert himself so the injuries could heal. Not like he could move much anyways, his ribs made him whimper like a puppy with every little movement. 

“How’s that?” MG asked for the fourth time as he readjusted the pillow behind his friend’s head. 

Jed looked at him, a small smile on his lips but eyes holding just the slightest bit of annoyance. Both Hope and Penelope told MG to stop smothering the poor guy with all the attention but he just wouldn’t listen. Even when Jed tried to subtly tell him to back off, MG just ignored it. Penelope had a feeling that he probably felt guilty about the assault somehow, like he could’ve done something to prevent it. Hope even mentioned it once or twice that there wasn’t anything they could’ve done to prevent it to try and ease his mind. 

“It was fine two fluffs ago, dude. I feel okay, alright? Now go. You guys are gonna be late for the job and you’re gonna need it since dinner’s on you tonight. I can feel my appetite coming on already.” Jed grinned up MG, a similar one gracing his features as well. 

“Call if you need anything. Your usual for dinner?” Penelope flashed him a finger gun to which he reciprocated immediately. 

“Always.”

++

The job went off without a hitch. The three of them all agreed that they just wanted to get it done and over with so they could have an early night and eat dinner with Jed. On nights that they decided on this approach, they went with what they called ‘the easy route’.

‘The easy route’ being them going downtown to a fancy hotel or nightclub’s valet and telling the person currently at the post that it was a shift change.

Somehow they fell for it every time. 

“Easiest four grand ever.” Hope gave them a lopsided smirk and Penelope chuckled. MG responded with a strained smile but neither of them said anything about it. 

Penelope filled the silences during the drives with music a little louder than necessary. Without having MG being his lively self as their buffer during times when the two of them fought, it was just ten times worse. The awkwardness was suffocating and Penelope wasn’t ashamed to admit that she drove just a  _ little  _ faster in order to get herself out of the car.

Jed was waking up from a nap when the three friends entered the house. Despite doctor’s orders, he was up and hobbling around on a cane that  _ he  _ had bought months ago as a joke when MG complained about back pains. 

“Welcome back!” He said enthusiastically before sitting down gingerly at the kitchen table. “How’d it go?”

“Easy money.” Hope smiled warmly at him. 

They ate in relative silence. The exhaustion from the job finally settling in and taking a toll on the three friends but Jed was lively more than ever. Penelope was happy to see MG gradually loosen up over a few beers and stupid jokes with Jed. It was a huge weight lifted off her shoulders when she finally heard the boy’s laughter echo throughout the house. 

Her phone dinged midbite and she felt three pairs of eyes focus on her instantly. She played it casual though, digging into her pocket and unlocking the phone with a neutral expression. It was Josie, of course, saying that she wanted to see her and if she was free to grab a bite.

She didn’t hesitate to respond with a yes. 

“Well?” Hope asked with only a little bite in her words. 

“Dinner with Josie. Get your ass back in bed when you’re done, alright Jed?” Penelope grunted out as she got to her feet. She packed up her leftovers and set it aside on the kitchen table. “Don’t wait up.” 

++

  
  


Penelope only had one job to do. To not lose herself in Josie because if she lost herself in Josie, she would get distracted from what needed to be done. And what needed to be done was so much more than the two of them, if done right, it could change things for the better. It would change law enforcement and the city for good and… things would be better. 

But Penelope found that job exceptionally difficult to do when Josie showed up looking like something straight out of a wet dream. One of hers at least. She wore a yellow crop top that cut off right at her navel, revealing skin that looked so soft Penelope wanted to drag her tongue across it. Her capris were tight and hugged her curves perfectly. Today was also the first time she saw Josie with an updo that wasn’t a poor attempt at hiding sex hair with a messy bun.

It was a lot to take in. 

“Hey,” Josie breathed when she leaned in to greet Penelope with a kiss on the cheek. The contact made her skin burn but she returned the gesture nonetheless.

“How was your day?” 

Penelope ignored the way a smile pulled at her lips when Josie slid into the seat next to her instead of opposite. She let her hand rest on the brunette’s thigh while the other leaned on the table, her chin resting in her palm. She resisted the urge to cup her cheek and graze the dark circles under Josie’s eyes. 

Josie shrugged, leaning into her side. “Tiring. I had lectures all day and a meeting with my advisor. Finals are around the corner so I just feel drained with all the studying,” She nudged Penelope’s shoulder with hers. “How about you? How is Jed feeling?” 

Penelope let her thumb brush back and forth over the girl's denim clad knee and sighed. “Okay, still healing. He’s up and walking which is a good sign and eating more too.” She leaned forward just slightly to catch Josie’s gaze before she said the next thing. “I can’t thank you enough for your help the other night. You didn’t have to help but you did.” 

Her sentiment earned her a lingering kiss on the cheek and a deep blush that dusted the apples of her cheeks. “Of course. I was more than happy to. I just can’t believe a bar fight got that out of hand. He looked close to death.” 

A bar fight. That’s the story they decided to go with. Jed and his friends were drinking downtown and some drunkards started a fight over shots that weren’t theirs to take. Josie didn’t need to know the real story when they had no idea where the girl stood on the matter of police brutality. 

“Yeah, downtown is crazy. I try to tell everyone to avoid the area but they’re never one to turn down cheap shots.” She let her eyes fall intentionally to Josie’s lips before making eye contact again. 

The waiter came over then, popping the little bubble that Penelope was more than content to stay in with Josie. They ordered their food quickly and fell back into easy conversation. She asked Josie to tell her more about her classes and family, particularly her parents. She made sure to listen closely when she voiced her feelings on Alaric’s position as Chief. 

“There were so many nights when I was younger that I’d stay up so I could make sure he got home from a shift. My mom and Lizzie always reassured me but I couldn’t help it, y’know? Lizzie was always more angry at our parents for being absent but I understood. They had careers that were important to them too and it wasn’t their fault if they couldn’t make it to recitals or parent teacher nights. My dad does good work though, they wouldn’t have made him chief if he didn’t deserve it.” 

_ But he doesn’t. How can you not see that? _

Penelope hated the sadness she saw flickering in Josie’s eyes at the confession. But at the same time she couldn’t help but feel guilty for having asked the question in the first place. Seeing how low of a standard Josie held her parents to while simultaneously being so proud of them confused her. She deserved so much more than what she had been given. Even when running an empire, Marcel still found time at the end of the day to make sure Penelope was okay. Sure, she never took piano lessons or had a part in the school play, but he was the closest thing to a father that she had and he was damn good at it. 

“You’re an amazing person, do you know that? Your heart is so big and you’re always worrying and looking out for others. You should afford yourself the same luxury, take a vacation.” Her words were meant to be playful but she still found herself meaning them more than she intended to.

“That’s what I have you for, don’t I?” The look of adoration mixed with the softness of Josie’s smile was almost too much. She felt her heart drop at Josie’s words and thankfully, she didn’t allow her true feelings to show on her face. There was too much truth laced in Josie’s words and it only made the guilt grow. 

The worst part about all of it was that Penelope  _ could  _ be that person for Josie. 

She was. 

She wanted to be, more than anything. 

But she  _ couldn’t _ .  _ Not yet _ , she told herself.

Josie didn’t need to know that though. But would Josie be as forgiving of Penelope’s actions like she was for her parents? Would she be able to understand why she had to do the things she did?  _ God I hope so. _

“That’s right. You do.” She was grateful that her voice didn’t waiver when she spoke. Josie kissed her hard, obviously happy with the response as she smiled into it. The kiss quickly grew more heated when she felt the other girl’s tongue brush against her bottom lip. She tasted bittersweet, likely from her coffee order; a sweet cream cold brew. 

The irony wasn’t lost on Penelope. 

The two only broke apart at the sound of someone clearing their throat rather aggressively at the front of their table. She was more than ready to glare at whoever it was that thought they could intrude on an intimate moment, a snarky comment on the tip of her tongue but found herself frozen in her spot instead.

Right in front of them stood Josie’s dad, Alaric, police uniform and  _ stupid  _ chief hat and all. His arms were crossed over his chest and he had an unimpressed look on his face. He was staring right at Penelope but she wasn’t fazed, she just stared right back. 

“Dad! What are you doing here?” Josie pulled out of Penelope’s arms and stood up to greet her father. The man only broke eye contact when Josie’s arms pulled him into a tight hug, his expression softening immediately at the sight of his daughter. 

“Hey sweetie. Just grabbing some lunch with Donovan. Who’s your friend?”

Josie nervously glanced at Penelope, her bottom lip stuck between her teeth as the same thought crossed both of their minds. What were they exactly? They had never put a label on.. Whatever they were doing. If anything, the title of friends with benefits fit them more. Nothing is more awkward than telling your father that the girl he caught you swapping saliva with at a restaurant is your fuck buddy. The humiliation would be too much. 

There was a high chance that Josie would say she was just a friend or something along those lines and leave the conversation for another time. Penelope didn’t mind either way, she wasn’t pushing for anything at the moment. But maybe... was this her chance?

Her mind began racing and it felt like things were moving in slow motion. She watched as Josie wrung her fingers and glanced back and forth between her father and Penelope, visibly conflicted on what to say. 

“Um.. Penelope, this is my dad, Alaric Saltzman. Dad, this is Penelope. My--”

Penelope cut her off before she could finish. She couldn’t afford to let this go..

“Girlfriend. I’m her girlfriend,” She said confidently as she slid out of the booth to stand next to them. Her hand was extended out to Alaric and she had to bite back the shit eating grin when his eyes widened comically. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Chief Saltzman. I’ve been hearing a lot about you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty proud of this chapter, while the first half took me much too long to write, the rest flowed pretty easily. Next chapter will pick up right where this one left off, I'm trying to fix my routine which currently consists of sleeping, eating, light exercise and either too much reading or video games. I hope you all are staying safe, staying sane and WEARING A MASK! Questions, comments and concerns always appreciated, it makes my day :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Consistent updates? We don't know her.

“So how long have you two been dating again? Exactly?” Alaric’s stare hadn’t strayed from Penelope from the moment he sat down twenty minutes ago to now. Now, he was aggressively cutting into his steak as he glared holes into the side of Penelope’s face. 

It was a bit unnerving. 

“Not very long, it’s still new. We only just became girlfriends recently.” Josie said with a pinch to Penelope’s thigh. She bit back a grimace and just smiled sweetly at Alaric. Thankfully it was only him that joined them for dinner since his partner got preoccupied with telling work stories to some girl at the bar area. 

For the most part, dinner was civil. Alaric asked all the questions that a father would ask their daughters' significant other.  _ Who are you and what are your intentions with my daughter? How old are you? How did you two meet? What are your long term plans? _

_ What do you do for a living? _

Penelope answered that the same way she did when Josie asked it, with a smirk on her face. “I sell cars.” 

“Like at a dealership?” The chief said over a bite of steak and potatoes to which Penelope shrugged. 

“Something of the sorts. It’s more of a company that was passed down to me.” That caught Alaric’s attention. He rose a brow and stared harder at her somehow. 

“Your parents did?” She sobered quickly at that, her bravado and confident persona wavering just for a moment before she cleared her throat and shook her head.

“No sir. My parents… passed away, when I was young. I was raised by a family friend.” She faintly felt Josie’s hand squeeze her thigh, a mix of comfort and assurance. Just in case she needed her. Penelope hated that she did. She flashed Josie a lopsided smile and pressed a kiss to her shoulder. 

From the corner of her eye she saw Alaric’s features soften just slightly at her confession but she didn’t need his pity nor did she want it. She remembered how the police failed to find her parents. How they practically gave up after a half-assed search and told her that her parents were most likely dead in a ditch. How do you just tell a kid that? 

That was just one of many people that these so called heroes in blue failed.

“I’m very sorry for your loss, Penelope. The loss of a parent is a pain that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.” She gave a curt nod at his apology, lips pressed together in a thin line before turning her attention back on her forgotten food.

Conversation was a lot lighter after that little hiccup. It mostly consisted of Josie asking about her dad’s shift and him inquiring about her day. She did her best to play the diligent girlfriend while the two talked but it was hard when deep down she was fighting the urge to reach across the table and slam the man’s head down. She bit back the overwhelming desire to beat the guy to a pulp and instead feigned interest in his day job. 

“Becoming chief is a big milestone. Have you always wanted to be in law enforcement?” Penelope said as genuinely as possible. Alaric fell for it though, the smile on his face being more than enough to show that this was a question he loved to answer. 

“Not at first. I wanted to be a teacher more than anything and I did that for a few years. That’s how I met Josie’s mother. Then after a while I decided it was time for a change in scenery. I wanted to do something more and help others. Joining the force was hard work but I taught high school so my skin was thick already.” He said with a little chuckle. Josie seemed to think that was funny too so she let out a quiet laugh even though Penelope found the joke rather dry. She still faked a laugh though.

“You should invite your girlfriend over for dinner sometime, Josie. Your mother would love to meet her.” 

To her credit, Josie didn’t tense nor did she shy away from the idea. She just looked at Penelope with that little smile of hers and shrugged. “What do you say?  _ Babe? _ ” Penelope just chuckled at how forced Josie made the term of endearment sound before nodding in agreement. 

“Just give me a day and time. I’ll be there. I can bring the dessert, I know the best place for cheesecake. Right Josie?” Penelope wrapped an arm around the girl’s waist and pinched her hip just enough to get Josie’s attention. Her smile widened when she saw the tips of her ears turn pink. 

“Sounds great. How’s this weekend?”

“That sounds perfect.” Penelope said just as Josie opened her mouth to respond with what she could only assume to be a no. She turned to smile at the girl reassuringly before turning to face Alaric once more. “Just let me know the details and I’ll go ahead and clear my schedule sir.” 

Alaric seemed to like both Penelope’s formality and eagerness to appease. He stood up then, fishing in his wallet for a few bills before throwing them on the table. “I’ll clear it with my wife and get back to you on that. Penelope, it was nice to meet you. Come give your old man a hug before I get back to work, Josie.” Penelope tried not to let the indifference show on her face as Josie went up to say her goodbyes. All she could focus on was the way Alaric squeezed her daughter tightly and how Josie laid her head on his shoulder. Her eyes fell to the gun and nightstick holstered on his belt and everything but irritation left her body. 

_ How many times has he drawn that weapon just to threaten someone? Just to have the upperhand to make someone innocent do whatever he wanted? _

“It was good meeting you, Chief Saltzman.” Alaric gave her a nod and smiled at Josie once more before putting his hat on and leaving the restaurant. Josie slid back into the seat next to her, eyes questioning and a shy smile lining her lips. 

“What?” Penelope poked her side, causing Josie to giggle.

“Girlfriend?”  _ Oh yeah.  _ She stiffened just slightly but quickly melted back into Josie’s side. 

_ Turn on the charm, Park.  _ “Yeah, girlfriend. I know we haven’t labeled what we were doing exactly, but we were basically dating just without the title. I know it’s presumptuous of me and I’m sorry. Should I have not said that?” 

“No no, that’s not it. I do want to be girlfriends, I have for a while. I didn’t know how to bring it up without seeming clingy. In a way, I’m glad that you made the first move.” Penelope couldn’t help the grin that tugged at her lips, the kind where it made her cheeks ache. She leaned in to kiss her cheek only for Josie to turn at the last second and connect their lips. She was sweet like the tea she drank and it was intoxicating. If possible, she would spend all day just kissing Josie. 

They left the restaurant after a makeout session just long enough to make the people next to them uncomfortable. It was more for seeing Josie flush with embarrassment than anything else. 

She walked Josie to her car, hand in hand as she went over the interaction she just had with Alaric in her head. He gave off the same vibe that any other cop that just met their daughter’s lover did. Penelope wasn’t intimidated though, no, she found it hard to care at all what he thought of her. But now wasn’t the time for her to act like the nonchalant girlfriend. She needed to fulfill this role and she was going to do it well. 

She tried to focus on finding some sort of common interest between the two of them that she could exploit. She wasn’t really into sports but could probably fake her way through a conversation if need be. Alcohol? The man looked like he enjoyed a good whiskey at the end of the day. She could picture it already; Penelope and Alaric sitting in his study and chatting mindlessly over two fingers of whiskey. Just as she was turning to ask Josie what kind of alcohol her father liked best, Josie leaned in to kiss her already bruised lips. 

“What are your plans for the rest of the night?” She breathed against her lips. One of her hands cupped her cheek, her thumb hovering just above her bottom lip.  _ Oh. _

Penelope could only smirk as she began trailing kisses along her jawline and up to her ear.

“Come over and find out.”

++

Two days later Penelope got a text from Josie saying that dinner was set for two days from now and that it wasn’t too late to suddenly feign illness. She laughed, simply telling Josie that there was no point in delaying the inevitable and that she’d be there with a bottle of whiskey, cheesecake, and flowers. Her confidence seemed to ease Josie’s mind along with the promise that she’d take her out for frozen yogurt the day before.

“Peez?” 

She looked up from her phone to see MG standing in front of her, hands in his pockets and shoulders hunched. He had what almost seemed to be a permanent frown on his face paired with a furrowed brow. “What is it, Milton?” 

He moved swiftly to accompany her on the couch and began twiddling his thumbs. Penelope could feel the anxiety radiating off of the boy and it killed her inside to know that he had been carrying this feeling for so long. For someone that was usually so full of life and smiles, it was jarring to see his mood shift so drastically. Even on the day that his parents kicked him out and he showed up at Penelope’s door, he still managed to smile and crack jokes to lighten the mood. 

But this?

She felt a whirlwind of emotions looking at him. It was heartwarming to know that MG cared so much about their little group. In the days following Jed’s accident, MG had made sure her and Hope knew how much they meant to him multiple times throughout the day. The affirmations ranged from hugs in the morning to simply saying, ‘ _ You know I appreciate you, right?’ _ to his newfound ritual of telling everyone ‘ _ I love you _ ’ before bed or any time they’d leave. Penelope didn’t want to admit how emotional it made her when she finally figured out why he started doing it. 

He was scared that they’d leave without knowing how much he cared. 

He was scared that a short trip to the grocery store could go awry and the last thing he would’ve said to one of them would be something like, ‘ _ Don’t get the shitty coffee creamer this time’ _ instead of ‘ _ Love you’  _ or ‘ _ Appreciate ya’ _ . After all, Jed just went on a night out with some friends. Something so trivial and they had almost lost their friend. Penelope didn’t want to think about it too much, she didn’t let herself. 

Out of the four of them, she had to be the one to keep her cool because if her of all people couldn’t, how could she expect them to be any better? 

“MG?”

“I’ve been thinking a lot lately,” He finally managed to get out. He wouldn’t meet her eyes no matter how low Penelope ducked her head. In his hands was one of those stupid spinning toys meant to quell anxiety but in that moment, it was just making Penelope more irritated. She reached out to stop the toy, leaving her hand to rest on top of his. 

“About Jed?” MG bobbed his head in agreement. “It’s still not your fault, you know that right?” 

MG shook his head, his face contorting to one of discomfort and even a hint of annoyance. “I know that. It took me a while to really understand, but I do. That’s not what I’ve been thinking about though. You have to promise me that you won’t mention this to anyone else, okay?” 

“MG..” 

“ _ Please _ , Pen. Just keep it between us, okay? They don’t need to know now, but you can tell them if the circumstances call for it.” 

What could possibly be so important that Penelope would have to be sworn to secrecy? Secrets rarely ever stayed hidden within their friend group. For a group like them, it was important to share everything, even the hurtful things. You never know when a secret would come to bite you in the ass or screw you over. 

“Okay, I won’t. Promise.” 

MG smiled, seeming content with her answer. He inhaled a shaky breath and from the slight shake in his hands, Penelope knew he was nervous.

“I’ve been thinking about the situation with Jed and just cops in general, you know? And Jed was just chilling with his friends and standing around. They weren’t doing anything wrong but they still almost killed him. For me.. I know that it’d be different. I know. The chances of me getting my ass jumped by some cops is so much higher because of how I look and frankly, it’s stupid. And I know that this could just all be in my head but growing up, my dad had to give me the talk too, y’know? I was eight years old when my parents sat me down and told me that if I were to ever get confronted by the cops that I’d have to play the golden child.” 

“Yes _ sir,  _ no  _ sir.  _ I apologiz _ e, sir. _ Even if it wasn’t my fault. Luckily, I never ran into any issues but now this whole situation just makes me feel like I’ve got my head on backwards.” MG pulled his hands away from Penelope, shaking them out and scrubbing his face. “What I’m trying to say is, if anything happens to me, whether it be from a job, the cops or some freak incident, I want you to tell my parents. I want you to tell my parents that even though they disowned me, that I love them. But if it is cop or job related, I’d want you to lie. Say it was some random accident that no one saw coming and up until the end, I loved my life and the people that I’ve spent it with.” 

The back of her eyes stung with tears as Penelope watched how he spoke with such conviction and determination. From the hardset of his jaw and the passion behind his words, she wasn’t ashamed of having to rapidly blink the tears that begged to spill over. “You really know how to make a girl emotional, Milton.” She said with a little laugh. He chuckled along with her and leaned into her side when she leaned over for a hug.

“Promise. But just because I did, doesn’t mean you get to go and fuck around alright? I’d just about lose my mind or end up fist fighting Hope if you weren’t here to parent us.” 

To her delight, MG let out a hearty laugh. “I think you guys would fight even with me here.” 

Penelope shrugged. “Probably.”

She gave him a tight squeeze before pulling away to smile at him. “Feel better?” For the first time in what seemed like forever, a genuine smile plastered his features that Penelope couldn’t help but mirror. 

“Yeah, thanks Peez. You’re the best. And I hope you know that I’d be more than happy to return the favor for all of you guys too.”

A sad smile tugged at her lips but she quickly shook it off with a shrug. “That’s sweet of you, but as morbid as it sounds, I wouldn’t have anyone important enough to inform. Besides you three, that is.” 

“What about Josie?” 

Ah. 

Yes, what  _ about  _ Josie. 

Once more, Penelope just shrugged. “I don’t know.” 

++

“I can’t believe you actually got  _ every topping  _ they had.”

“It’s build your own!”

“Penelope, your yogurt was  _ $7. _ ”

She held out the rather heavy tub of yogurt in front of her, lips pressed in a tight line as she compared Josie’s to hers. Josie’s tub was presented beautifully, vanilla yogurt underneath a baby mountain of fruit and chocolate. Meanwhile Penelope’s was, quite frankly, hideous.

It started off as a joke from the moment they stepped into the yogurt shop. Josie made a joke about how someone could possibly eat so much frozen yogurt in the larger sized tub and wondered if anyone had ever actually gotten every single topping. 

The second she looked over to Penelope and saw a mischievous smirk on her face, she knew she made a mistake. 

Thus started the embarrassing process of Penelope tediously taking her time making her way through the line of yogurts and toppings. Halfway through she realized that having to eat the yogurt was going to be disgusting and would likely send her into a sugar coma so strong she was scared she’d miss dinner with Josie’s family tomorrow. 

But this was about proving a point.

“I’m just making sure I’m getting my money's worth. Do you want to try?”

Josie wrinkled her nose as she thought over her options. By no means did Penelope’s yogurt look appealing  _ at all _ , that was on purpose, Mixing every single yogurt option they had along with bits of all their toppings resulted in an interesting colored soup to gather at the bottom of her tub. With syrups of all kinds drizzled messily over cookies, fruit, cereal and chocolate chips, any little movement could trigger the mountain to fall over.

Penelope could see it in Josie’s eyes as she fought with herself internally. The sight only made her smile widen, the tip of her tongue peeking out between her teeth. “Okay fine.” Josie said with a defeated sigh. “Make sure you get a little bit of everything.” Penelope chuckled. That earned her a playful glare from the brunette.

With a careful hand, she scooped the side of Penelope’s yogurt slowly so it wouldn’t collapse. She watched with a close eye when Josie brought the spoon to her lips and tasted the yogurt. Her face was neutral for the most part, chewing and debating if she liked the flavor or not. It was a full twenty seconds until she finished and shook her head.

“Not good?” Penelope asked.

Josie shook her head again, this time a chuckle leaving her lips. “It’s actually kind of good. I don’t hate it and that worries me.” Penelope laughed before scooping some yogurt into her mouth. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, it tastes great.” And surprisingly, it did. Though there were some parts where the combinations just didn’t sit right, most of it was quite tasty but still overly sweet. She definitely could’ve gone without the extra syrups and marshmallow fluff. 

“I think I know of a way to make it taste better though.” Josie said offhandedly while Penelope was distracted with fixing the slow falling avalanche on one side of her tub. 

“Mhm?” 

Nimble fingers pressed against the underside of her chin, tilting her head up to meet Josie’s gaze. She had a shy smile on her lips and before Penelope could make a comment about the smear of chocolate on her lip, Josie leaned in for a kiss. 

Her lips parted at the first lick from Josie’s tongue and she felt herself beginning to melt into the kiss only for it to break shortly after. Penelope’s eyes darted from her eyes back down to her lips. The smear was gone but Josie was smiling wider now. 

“Yup. Ten times better.” She stepped out of Penelope’s space and turned to stalk off in the direction of her car. Penelope stood there for a second, feeling a bit bamboozled at how easily she fell for something just so  _ cheesy  _ like that. 

Once she regained feeling in her legs, she scurried off after Josie. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ya'll ever think about how the writers robbed us of seeing more of Penelope/MG's friendship and even Penelope/Hope? They would've been such great friends I'm upSET.


	10. Chapter 10

“This whole ordeal will go by a lot quicker if you just gave me what I’m asking for, Jimmy.” Penelope stared down at the boy in front of her. They had been at this for nearly two hours now and Penelope was running out of both time and patience. She glanced up at the clock that hung on the wall to the left of her;  _ 4:30pm.  _ She needed to go get ready for dinner with Josie’s family soon and she had  _ hoped  _ to get this job finished before then.

Clearly she needed to be more persuasive. 

Her eyes trailed down Jimmy’s body, his arms and legs were tied to the metal chair he was thrown in moments before they pulled the knapsack off his head. Maybe if he had looked even the slightest bit panicked, Penelope would’ve taken pity on him. But instead he was nothing but cocky and too full of himself and frankly, just his face pissed her off. 

“We’ve been friends for how long now, Jimmy?” She asked as she wandered over to the workstation set off to the side. Lazily, she browsed through the assortment of tools until her hands came across an all too familiar leather pouch. She dragged the wooden stool that sat under the worktable until it sat right in front of Jimmy and plopped down on it. 

“Warms my heart that you consider us friends,” Jimmy spat at the floor. The cut on his lip was beginning to bleed and Penelope hoped that the redness of her knuckles would fade before she left to go to Josie’s. 

“Poor wording, let me rephrase. How long have you and the bar been on our payroll?” Penelope asked innocently as she unfolded the pouch to reveal a set of tools. Knives, screwdrivers, pliers, etc. She turned to face Jimmy quick enough to catch the nervous gaze he fixed to the weapons in front of her. She snapped her fingers inches from his face and raised a brow. “Answer the fucking question.” 

“Long enough..” He mumbled quietly. “We don’t have the CCTV. We told you, it got misplaced.” 

She clicked her tongue and plucked up the phillips head screwdriver, examining the point with precision before tossing it in her hand a few times to get a feel for it. It was pretty high end, she’d say. She hadn’t realized tools cost so much until she had to furnish the warehouse, which is where they were now. Across the waters on a tiny little secluded island was where their warehouse sat, mostly used for holding cars or if needed, other things. One of those  _ other things  _ being the reason why their basement was soundproofed. Just because they weren’t near the mainland didn’t mean they shouldn’t take precautions.

She blew off any visible dust that coated the screwdriver and turned to Jimmy, a smile lining her lips. 

“And how many times have I told you that that’s not what I wanted to hear?” 

In an instant, the hand holding the screwdriver slammed down into Jimmy’s thigh, a sickening crunch filling the air accompanied by Jimmy’s scream. Penelope released the breath she didn’t realize she was holding and simply stared at the boy. “You got one more try because I’m feeling generous,” Penelope sighed, wiping off some blood on her hands onto his pants. “What did you do with the video?” 

Quiet whimpers were all that left Jimmy’s mouth as he cried, his wide eyes glued to the screwdriver that protruded from his leg. Blood was beginning to soak his jeans and drip onto the cement floor beneath them. Penelope made a mental note to get new flooring put in sometime soon. 

When she was meant with continued silence, she took the screwdriver in her hand and twisted it, earning another shrill scream from him. 

“You don’t want to get on my  _ bad side  _ now, Jimmy. Believe it or not, this is me being nice. You’re lucky I have somewhere to be otherwise this would be a lot…  _ messier. _ ” She smirked at him before yanking out the screwdriver from his leg. A spurt of blood shot out and now began flowing from the wound in a steady stream. She wiped the tool down against his shirt and leaned forward, her arms resting on her legs. With her free hand, she grabbed Jimmy by the face and made him look at her. “Do you want to be on my bad side, James?”

He shook his head weakly, tears still falling down his cheeks. Part of her hated having to do this to him, to anyone. Torturing information out of people wasn’t something she enjoyed doing, but it needed to be done. MG was nowhere near the right mindset to do it, Hope had never done it before and Jed was to be far away from all of this until further notice. Thus, the job fell on her shoulders. 

She thought back to the times she saw Marcel come home covered in blood that wasn’t his own. His knuckles were split two times over and the haunted look in his eyes striked a fear in her that she just couldn’t place. It was something that she never thought she would have to be put through until it finally happened. Marcel had finally deemed her mature enough to take on the role. He told her that the man she needed to get information out of had double crossed them by giving intel away to an enemy, and it was up to her to find out who paid him.

She couldn’t sleep for a while after that night. The sounds of his screams and the weight of his blood on her hands plagued her dreams. Marcel wasn’t of much help, all he would tell her was that it was a price to pay when you’re the leader. So she sucked it up.

Penelope looked Jimmy over again, the screwdriver turning over in her hand as she sighed. “I want an answer when I come back. One that I’ll actually like.” She stabbed the screwdriver into his other leg this time, the pain shocking him back to consciousness. With a curt nod to the man standing by the door, she waited until he began patching up the open wound on one of his legs, just to make sure that he wouldn’t bleed out.

“See you in a few, James.” 

++

She had to make sure that her outfit was perfect. After all, you only get to meet the parents once, right? Penelope’s first impression on Alaric and Jo were pivotal to the plan going well… not to mention important to Josie as well. She smoothed down the front of her blouse, frowning when her eyes caught sight of her red knuckles in the mirror. Putting makeup on an open wound didn’t really seem appealing so all she could hope for was that no one paid too much attention to her. 

With a sigh, she gave herself one more once over. A simple blouse and skirt combo paired with some modest heels that were still tall enough to hopefully make her eye level with Josie. She sent a quick message to the girl in question to let her know that she was on the way over before making her way downstairs. 

MG and Jed sat on the couches, game controllers in hand and matching frowns on their faces with nothing but the aggressive sounds of buttons being pressed filling the room. From the visual alone, she knew that the two were locked in an intense match. She gave both of them a squeeze on the shoulder and wordlessly made her exit after grabbing a bottle of overpriced whiskey she bought previously. 

She couldn’t remember the last time she had met someone’s parents, or if she even ever did. Over the years it was difficult for any of them to have any semblance of a stable relationship because having that would mean telling them what they actually did for a living and that was never worth the risk. So instead they filled that void with unhealthy habits instead. One night stands, excessive drinking, and while Penelope rarely partook, sometimes drugs. 

It was just easier that way, but that was before. The four of them had set those rules in place so long ago that she didn’t even know if her friends had continued to uphold it. From her perspective, things were way past just ‘casual’ for Hope and Landon and MG seemed to really like Lizzie. Jed’s lovelife was always up in the air but he never seemed to want to settle down anyways, just perfectly happy to play the field. 

Before she could dwell on her thoughts any further, her GPS dinged on her dashboard, signalling her arrival. She checked over her makeup one last time in the mirror before grabbing her things and heading for the front door. She barely managed one knock before it swung open, revealing a flushed but nonetheless beautiful Josie Saltzman. 

Immediately the corner of her lips tugged up into a smile at the sight of her. “Hi.” 

“Hey you,” Josie leaned in to kiss her chastely before taking the dessert from her hands. “You look hot.” 

Penelope chuckled, using her free hand to pull her back into one more kiss. “Speak for yourself. I hope your dad likes whiskey?” She held up the bottle for Josie to look at, forgetting about the unsightly blemish on that hand. Josie’s brows furrowed instantly, one of her hands reaching out to brush against the reddened skin just lightly.

“Jeez, Pen. What happened? This looks painful.” 

Penelope dropped her hand and waved her off with the other. “Picked up kickboxing.. I guess I didn’t tie my wraps well enough.” She could practically  _ see  _ Josie absorb her words and decipher in her brain whether or not she was speaking the truth. There was a glint of something in her eyes but she chose not to speak on it. Instead she stepped aside to let Penelope in. 

“Let me know if it starts hurting or something, okay? I’ve been told I’m a good nurse.” Josie said with a small smile. 

She felt the tension that she didn’t know she was holding in her shoulders dissipate and smiled. She leaned in close to her ear, grateful that her heels  _ did  _ put them at eye level now, and whispered, “As much as I’d love to see you in a nurse’s outfit, I much prefer you with nothing on.” 

The reaction was instantaneous. Josie’s cheeks flushed a deep red and she dropped her gaze to the floor with her lips pressed together in a tight line. She watched as Josie let her head fall onto Penelope’s shoulder with a groan, making Penelope laugh. “You can’t say that kind of stuff when we’re about to sit down to dinner with my parents.” 

She wrapped an arm around her girlfriend’s shoulders and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “Speaking of your parents, you should probably go introduce me before they think I dipped.”

Penelope let herself be led by hand through the house, only stopping every once in a while when Josie wanted to point out photos or certain decorations. Having only been there once before, she was confused at how at home she felt in the Saltzman residence. It had to be because of how it was decorated or the comforting smell of cinnamon that gave her that feeling. 

“Mom, this is Penelope. Penelope, this is my mom Jo.” 

She looked at the dark haired woman that stood at the sink. Her hair was nearly as dark as Penelope’s, a stark contrast to the vibrant blue of her eyes. A warm smile graced her features and Penelope felt a sudden urge to let herself be coddled by her. Jo quickly wiped her hands down with the towel on her shoulder before making her way to Penelope. She hadn’t expected the woman to pull her into a hug so quickly but she didn’t fight it, instead letting herself enjoy the warmth. 

“It’s so nice to finally meet you, Penelope. Josie talks about you so much that I feel like I know you already.” Penelope raised a brow and turned to give Josie a look only to be greeted with the sight of her girlfriend staring wide eyed at Jo.

“ _ Mom pleeaasee, _ ” Josie whined. Jo let out a hearty laugh and reached out to pull her in for a hug as well.

“It’s a good thing, sweetheart. I’d be worried if you  _ didn’t  _ talk about her, isn’t that right Penelope?” 

She quickly nodded in agreement. 

“Oh! Is this cheesecake  _ and  _ whiskey? You really know how to win someone’s heart with food, don’t you?” Jo said as her eyes followed Penelope when she set the items on the table. She turned back to face her with a sheepish smile and shrugged. 

“Who can say no to dessert and a drink?” She said with her most charming smile. “I brought the best bottle of whiskey I could find. Is Alaric around?” 

Jo looked pointedly to the hallway and what Penelope remembered to be the man’s study. “Still working, as usual. I swear he never knows how to take a day off no matter how much I tell him to. But I guess the saying where, ‘if you love your job, you’ll never work a day in your life’ holds true huh?” Jo rolled her eyes playfully. She turned around to an open cupboard and returned with two glasses that she held out to Penelope. “Why don’t you take that bottle in with you? Alaric never turns down good whiskey, especially a bottle like that.” 

“That sounds great.” Penelope felt her cheeks heat up in a blush when Jo gave her a knowing wink after one glance at the label. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Josie look at her with a confused expression. She graciously took the glasses and pressed a kiss to Josie’s cheek, muttering a quiet ‘ _ Don’t worry about it’ _ before making her way to the study.

The hallway leading up to the study was intimidating. It reminded Penelope of walking in the long corridors of school up to the principal’s office to receive her punishment. Her eyes scanned over the photos that littered the walls, baby photos of Josie and Lizzie, wedding portraits and school photos. So many pictures documenting their lives from the very beginning. There were even little polaroids of Alaric and Jo from their childhoods. Surprisingly, it made Penelope feel a bit jealous. Jealous that they were practically the perfect, loving family you’d see in the movies. 

Jealous of the fact that of all people,  _ she  _ had to be the one that was robbed of a life with her parents. Would they have been like Josie and her family? Or were they just doomed to live a shit life from the start?

She quickly pushed back the negative thoughts and feelings as she neared the door to Alaric’s study. Giving herself a quiet pep talk, she knocked on the door twice and waited for an answer before pushing through. 

“Ah, Penelope,” Alaric looked up at her over the rim of his glasses. His expression was neutral, kinda like he was unimpressed. He pushed aside the keyboard in front of him and sat back in his chair to take her in.  _ What were the chances he has a password on that computer?  _

She smiled at him sheepishly and held up the whiskey and glasses. “Ever have 18 year old Yamazaki?”

His eyes widened comically then as he sat upright in his chair, a hand extended to take the bottle from her. She watched as he turned the bottle over in his hand to admire it, the slightest hint of a smile playing on his features. She set the glasses on the desk in front of him so he could pour the drinks. They clinked glasses wordlessly but Penelope kept her eyes on the chief as he took his first sip of $1000 Japanese whiskey. She sipped her own glass lightly, not wanting to overindulge when she still had to keep her focus. 

“Damn… That definitely tastes like thousand dollar whiskey. How did you get this?” 

Penelope smiled. “I took a tour of the Suntory distillery a few years ago in Japan. The owner and I became good friends so he sends me alcohol every now and then as a gift.” Boxes of over priced whiskey in exchange for sports cars, even millionaires won’t say no to free. 

“I think you and I will get along quite well. Nothing beats a glass of whiskey after a long day at work,” He said before emptying his glass and pouring another. “Neat, too. You just may be the first person Josie’s dated that I like.” 

She simply smiled at him. A little red flag popped in the back of her mind as she watched Alaric down the alcohol like it was water to him. Along with the fact that he just poured another without a second thought. She didn’t know whether to be happy she could read someone so easily or worried that Alaric seemed to fit the stereotype she imagined so well. “With a job like yours, I don’t doubt needing a drink to end the night.” 

To her surprise, Alaric  _ chuckled.  _ “You’re not wrong there,” He said before downing a third of his glass. “Being Chief is great, I truly love it. I got a great team of officers that do an amazing job and we get along so well.” Another sip. “But the power can get to your head sometimes,” He pointed the glass at her like he was trying to make a point. 

_ I know damn well it can. _

“Never forget that, Penelope. You’ve gotta stay humble, keep your ducks aligned. Fight that little voice in your head that tells you otherwise.” 

The look he gave her then gave nothing away as to what he was thinking, but it was unwavering. She met his gaze with equal fervor and sipped gingerly from her glass. “I like to think I’m fairly equal headed,” Penelope said softly. “Being forced to grow up at a young age does that to you. I’m grateful for my experiences and the people that were a part of it, it made me who I am today. Even if some failed me.” 

Something in Alaric’s expression changed. The slight furrow of his brow melted away and his eyes softened.  _ Pity?  _ “I think we have a lot more in common than you think, Penelope.” He abandoned his now empty glass and leaned forward, an effort to show that all his attention was now on her. “I lost my big brother when I was young. He was coming home from an after school practice and a drunk driver hit him. At six pm in the evening, the guy was plastered already. Turns out the guy was a cop just coming off a long shift and wanted to unwind at a bar down the street..” He breathed a heavy sigh. “He was my best friend, we did everything together. And for a long while, I hated cops with every fiber of my being. Absolutely detested them.”

Penelope looked at him, confused. Her expression was more expressive than she intended because Alaric chuckled. “The guy got off with a month in jail and community service because he was in the force.” Penelope watched as he dropped his gaze to his desk. “I know, ironic huh? I became someone that was the sole reason behind so much pain. It took me a long while but I realized that there was no point in me brooding over the loss. If I wanted to make a difference, I had to  _ do  _ something. That was part of why I joined the force, because like you, I felt like the justice system failed me.” 

She was speechless. Her eyes flickered briefly down to her glass then back up at him. She barely touched her drink meaning that she was still completely in control of her actions. She made sure to keep her expression free of any negative emotions as much as possible. Her tone was soft and casual, so how was it possible for him to see right through her like that? 

“I don’t--” She tried to feign ignorance but was cut off by Alaric holding up his hand.

“Please, Penelope. I’m more perceptive than you think and I’ve also been a cop long enough to recognize police hate when I see it. I just wanted you to know that while I completely understand your issue with it, I think you should try and think of what it’s like to be in our shoes. We do what we have to to keep the peace, and sometimes, we’re just not allowed to act out of line because then our livelihood is compromised. I will do whatever it takes to provide for my family as will every cop you ask will say.” 

Now, Penelope was  _ really  _ confused. She looked at the man in front of her, toeing the line between tipsy and drunk trying to justify the actions of cops all over the world all while trying to sympathize with her. Something about it just.. Didn’t sit right with her. Did a part of her feel bad to hear about the passing of his brother? Of course. Their prior experiences with police shared some similarities, sure. But was he really asking her to let go years of resentment just like that? By imagining how  _ terrible  _ it must’ve been for them to unjustly abuse their power over civilians? 

_ Poor bastards. _

A knock sounded at the door before Penelope could process anything else. 

“Dinner is ready. We’re setting the table now.” Josie’s tone was questioning, her eyes scanning the room and flickering back and forth between the two. Her brow furrowed slightly when her gaze fell on Alaric and it made Penelope swallow down some of the guilt. It was clear from that alone that Alaric’s drinking was an issue for Josie, and while Penelope felt bad about it, she still had a job to do. 

“Perfect! I’m starving, let’s go girls.” It took a few stumbles before Alaric made it past Penelope and through the door with the help of Josie. She picked up the empty glasses and made for the exit, but not before casting one more glance at the unlocked computer screen. 

++

The moment Penelope stepped out into the hallway, she was hit with possibly the most delicious thing she ever smelled. Immediately her mouth watered as she continued to sniff the air and found herself walking just a little faster towards the kitchen. The table was already set with Alaric sitting at the head of the table, his intoxication evident by the way he was swaying ever so slightly. She glanced over at Josie who stood by the table with an unreadable expression on her face. The sight of it brought an odd feeling that she didn’t like in Penelope’s gut. So, she shuffled over to her  _ girlfriend  _ and rested her hand on the small of Josie’s back. Josie turned to face her, lips pressed together when their eyes met. 

Penelope gave her an apologetic smile before pressing a kiss to her shoulder. Wanting to break up the weird tension in the room, she asked, “Will you sit next to me?” 

That earned her a blush and shy smile from Josie. “You’re a dork.” 

Penelope stuck her tongue out at her but leaned up to press another kiss to her cheek. Detaching herself from Josie’s side, she moved over to pull out the chair for her like the gentlewoman she was. The gesture made the blush on Josie’s cheeks deepen  _ and  _ earned her an eyeroll. 

“How sweet,” Penelope glanced up to see Jo walking towards them with a large pot. “You can never go wrong with a little chivalry, dear. That goes for you too, Josie.” She pointed a mitten covered hand at her daughter. 

“Do you need any help bringing anything else in, Jo?” Penelope asked, already making a move for the kitchen. She followed the older woman back to the kitchen and happily took the rice cooker that was handed to her back to the kitchen while Jo grabbed the rest. 

“Shrimp étouffée, I hope you like it.” Jo said as she removed the cover on the pot. 

“Wow, I haven’t had étouffée in ages. This smells incredible.” She handed her plate to Josie who began scooping out the portions for the table. She took that short moment to take everything in. Josie carefully portioning out rice for the four of them, Jo switching from watching her daughter to making sure the table was perfect to smiling at her husband, and Alaric holding his wife’s hand and pressing a kiss to the back of it. A regular family.

It was jarring. No matter how much this version of Alaric was thrown at her, she could only ever see one part of him. The part that had no qualms about abusing his power or just being a shitty person overall. 

It wasn’t right.

“This meal is delicious, Jo. You’ll have to tell me your recipe.” It made her feel oddly reminiscent of the times her mother cooked for her. All types of different cuisines depending on the week, a hot meal every day. Sure, both her and her roommates would cook as often as possible but it wasn’t the same. Nothing matched food made by your mother. 

“I’d be more than happy to share it with you, dear. Josie’s told me that you’re a very good chef yourself.” 

She raised a brow as she glanced over at Josie who just smiled and shrugged. “It’s not everyday someone cooks you an extravagant meal like that. I told Lizzie too, I wanted to brag. Speaking of Lizzie, where is she?” 

“On a date,” Alaric finally grunted in between bites of food. Penelope watched as he chewed somewhat irritably.

To her side, she felt a hand rest on her thigh as Josie leaned in to whisper quietly. “He doesn’t like MG, thinks he’s too nice.” Penelope hummed in acknowledgement and turned her gaze back to her food. 

_ Yeah. That’s the reason. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes. Sorry for the delay, guys. It's been.... kinda sucky for me haha, but I finally managed to finish this chapter. I wrote and rewrote it a lot because things just didn't feel like they were coming out right but I got it. I hope the past few weeks have been nicer to you all than it has been for me, stay sane!!
> 
> Let me know what you think on tumblr @youresomoneybby

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Fair warning, the title of the fic may change because I like it but not sure if I want it to the the name?


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